Our Forgotten Heroes
by TheAlphaTitan
Summary: Humanity survived last time it was threatened, but now it faces a new enemy millenia later: the Darkness. What happens when all seems lost and our enemies are beating at the gates of Earth's Last City? What happens when our saviors are those who have fallen once before, and now our new Guardians are those who are only ever Missing in Action? (M for Possible Future Content)
1. Prologue

Our Forgotten Heroes

Prologue

_ Many years ago, we fought a war that spanned the Orion Arm of the galaxy, and our ancestors fought a war to prevent their extinction. We survived…barely. A civil war amongst our enemies saved us at our darkest hour. Our former enemies splintered, many became our allies, and we fought back with renewed vigor. We won the war, and lived prosperously alongside our new allies. And yet…humanity wouldn't accept the blessing it had._

_A shadow organization, whose name has been lost in time, continuously sought to keep our allies down, a ploy that could only go unnoticed for so long, and our allies retaliated. We fought a war we were unprepared for, still licking our wounds from the last, and fought them to a standstill. Both sides, weakened from the last war, beat each other back to their home worlds and the war…stopped. Neither side won, neither side could amount an attack that would end the other._

_We were left alone. Scholars suspect that an agreement was made by our ancestors and our enemies. We would leave each other alone, let our descendants meet when they were able, and stop the foolish wars. Unfortunately, we lost our stance in the galaxy, and suffered a technological dark ages. Many of our technological marvels were lost to time._

_Centuries passed us by, wars amongst ourselves were fought over resources and money, and we slowly began to recover…_

_When the Traveler came, Humanity prospered once more. We grew, beyond our borders and into the other worlds, and many of the moons, of our solar system. Our lifespan tripled, we were gifted powers through the essence of Light, technology boomed forth with reckless abandon, the Exo were created, and our species expanded in number manifold in our second Golden Age._

_And then…the Darkness found us, following the Traveler. The very being that had uplifted us…had also caused our fall. Maybe this was planned; maybe when the Traveler found us, it decided to shape us into its personal guard, for that is what we became. When the Darkness found us, we fought back; the Fallen, the Hive, the Vex, and the Cabal, all minions of the Darkness, met resistance every step of the way through our domain._

_And yet…we still fell. Our fighting back was not enough against the combined, yet at times fragmented, might of the alien species stacked against us. The Fallen, weakest of our enemies, pressed us back hard as the first invaders, and still try to take our planet entirely. The Hive, with their massive hordes, took our moon, dear Luna. The Vex, those cold machines of evil, took Venus. And the Cabal, those creatures of war, stole Mars from our grasp._

_Our soldiers fought them at every turn, at times granting us victories despite the overwhelming odds, alongside the Traveler; until that horrid day came…and the Traveler was mortally wounded. The hordes of our enemies pressed at us, our men and women fought with the Light of the Traveler at their backs, before…the ships of the darkness wounded our greatest ally mortally, causing it to flee to Earth, where the fighting had yet to start. Our warriors fell by the hundreds as we retreated from our worlds, millions dying by the ravenous hordes pursuing them._

_Our Golden Age was at an end, and there was nothing we could do._

_In its last acts, before going into hibernation, the Traveler did one thing, one last effort to help us fight back against its enemies: it gave us the Ghosts, small constructs crafted in Light with the ability to search for those amongst the dead that hold the potential to wield light as a weapon and become the Guardians of Light and bring them back from the clutches of the Void to fight once more. Our Titans, Hunters, and Warlocks fight everyday against those that wish to finish us off._

_Now we fight from our last stronghold, The Last City on Earth, hiding beneath the Traveler and waiting for the time when it awakens once more, for we can no longer stand alone. Our leaders, though none will admit it, know that we won't last much longer…maybe only a few more years, unless the Guardians can find a way to beat back our foes. We need more Ghosts out there to find Guardians, for if we don't…we all shall perish._

_~ Vanguard Ikora Rey, addressing the Council of the Ghosts._

Four Ghosts jolted, their bodies expanding and showcasing a portion of the Light that gave them life in the form of a blue sphere; their bodies were reacting to something… Not many things could cause such a reaction, that were not of their control anyway, and this felt…special. The Traveler was doing something, something that was causing shockwaves amongst the sources of Light inside every Ghost from the Tower in to Mars, something that yet beckoned only the four and brought about the intense need to…move. To abandon their search for a Guardian and head to one specific place, a place deep inside Fallen territory on Earth. The territory that was once the Vancouver in Old Canada called to them. Then…all went black for them as they fell to the ground.

A form, undistinguishable as a member of any race or gender to any that saw it due to a large, brown coat, seemingly materialized at the location of one of the four Ghosts in a small explosion of light, the figure then grabbed the unconscious form of the Ghost, only to then vanish a moment later, then to appear at the location of the next, then the next and then finally. Worlds apart they were: one in Old America on Earth, one on the Moon, another at Venus, and the last at Mars, and yet in only a few moments the four were gathered by the unknown individual.

The mysterious figure reappeared once more, atop of a ruined structure that was in Old Canada, the four Ghosts cradled like infants in its arms as it stood, head tilted to the heavens. Glowing blue eyes peaked out from under its clothed face and scanned the sky expectantly, seemingly watching for any change as it waited for whatever it was expecting to come. Time crawled by, what felt like hours to the figure was only a few minutes to others, and then…the figure smiled beneath its concealing robes. Miles above land, four forms streaked through the air, the flames of their entry into the upper atmosphere concealing their true shape to spectators as anything beyond that of debris falling from orbit. Their trajectory would place them nearby. Perfect.

"Little Ghosts, wake up." A soft voice spoke out, male in origin and pointing to at least the gender of the clothed form, the small beings in its, rather now identified as a 'his', arms stirred about, beginning their waking sequence. First to activate, was their auditory receptors and what they heard brought about great excitement. "It is time to work, your Guardians are coming and they have been missing in action for many, many years. After all…"

He paused and, as the four constructs began to move, their bodies floating up into the air, tossed them forward with a lift of his arms. His form began to slowly vanish, a bright light starting at the core of his being and spreading to consume him as he said his parting words.

"Spartans never die."


	2. Chapter 1: Spartans! Prepare for Battle!

Chapter One

Spartans! Prepare for Battle!

_The ground shook violently as the Promethean guards moved in unison in his direction with slow, measured steps. The cocaphony of metallic feet impacting the ground and the growls of the Protheans resembled that of a dull roar, load but low in pitch. Just when he'd finally gotten Cortana back too…everything decided it wanted to kill him. The Flood was just outside the doors, the remnants of the Covanent beating at the side entrances to get in and take out one of the last remaining Spartan-IIs._

"_John, you shouldn't have come for me." The soft, worried voice of Cortana spoke in his ears from inside his helmet._

"_Spartans have always had trouble with leaving behind their friends." John said, an uncommon smirk on his lips. "No one gets left behind." The resounding click of him chambering a round in his MA5D assault rifle sounded, the ammo count for the weapon displayed clearly for him as a constant reminder to something he did not want to accept: eventually he would run out of ammo, and the hordes would take him. Luck, the quality that had let him survive for so long, always eventually ran out; he'd just been riding it as it lasted longer for him than most._

"_It…was an honor, John. Hey, maybe we'll get out?" She chuckled at the end softly, neither of them believed that though._

"_Yeah…maybe."_

* * *

><p>"Guardian? …Guardian, wake up." A male voice said softly, echos of two more voices, one male and one female, doing the same registered faintly in John's mind. His suit was in lock-up, a defensive measure against damage that had saved his life several times including once after he had fallen from low orbit. From the repeated times the other two voices said the same as the first speaker, they were being met without success as well.<p>

"Here, let me help." An unidentified voice spoke, male in origin as well. "Spartans, on your feet! We're on Earth and we have hostiles with boots on the ground!" The sound of that was enough for John to deactivate his armor lock, his MJOLNIR suit leaving what had started to become an irritating position, crouched down in a protective position. The sounds of movement to his left, and his depolarizing visor, showed that the others he had assumed the other two voices were talking to previously were reacting as well. Nothing was worse news than enemies on Earth soil.

Before John stood a male, clad in MJOLNIR Mark VII like himself, and holding an unknown rifle, rusted with neglect, out to him along with a handful of spare magazines. On his right breastplate marked the designation S-216, a glance to the other two showed S-B312 and S-D419. His eyes returned to the figure in front of him as he made his way to his feet and took the offered rifle, though he noted that doing so left the other male without a gun.

"It's good to see you awake, Sir. Spartan-II Class 2, Cain-216 reporting." The male saluted. The other two figures took notice of the scene and did the same.

"Spartan-III Beta Company and Noble 6, William-B312." - "Spartan-III Delta Company, Lilith-D419." The two announced aloud, naming their designations.

John nodded his head, he knew of the Spartan-IIIs and had met members of the Class 2 of Spartan-IIs both on Reach and after the incident with the Didact; the trio of Spartans before him lowered their hands as they then went about checking their armor, only then did he recognize that the four of them had…company. Four floating robots, similar yet not to the machines of the Forerunners, Monitor and Sentinels, hovered by the four of them, one to each super soldier it seemed. His own seemed to be painted in a silver-ish blue, Cain's was a deep red, William's a gunmetal grey, and Lilith's a light green.

"Spartan-216, you were apparently awake before the rest of us, what are these things?" He asked, his attention on the floating thing before him, which seemed to watch him just as he did the same to it. The construct beat the Spartan to the punch though, beginning to speak in response to his question.

"We are Ghosts, Guardian. More specifically, I am your Ghost and they are theirs. We brought each of you back to life, you've all been dead for a long time, a very long time at that…" The small automaton drifted off at that last sentence, his eyebrow cocked in interest and confusion at that. That…did explain the vision he had had before waking up though it also left him wondering. They'd been brought back? How?

"What do you mean, a long time? What's the date?" William asked from his spot, his head turning to look at his own Ghost, his helmet lie in his hands with its visor pointing up at him.

His little robot spoke after a brief pause. "Going along with the calendar from your era… July 2nd, 4295 CE."

Silence filled the air, each Spartan remained quiet as they absorbed this information. William's gaze had returned to his helmet's visor upon hearing the news. His expression was one of deep thought, as though the mere presence of the helmet confused him greatly; though that could have just been the news they had received. John didn't know, he hadn't met the Spartan-III before.

Over seventeen hundred years since the end of the Human-Covenant war, seventeen hundred year since any of them had lived and died. And now a new threat was present, on Earth of all places. John's thoughts turned to a memory from long ago.

'Wake me when you need me.' He'd said back then to Cortana, back when he'd been sent adrift with the aft section of the Forward Unto Dawn, but he hadn't been expecting this.

'Cortana!' His thoughts turned to his companion, who he had literally sacrificed his life to save all those years ago, he felt as though she was still present in his helmet, the cold feeling that alerted him to her being connected was there, at the back of his mind.

He shook his head, his hand coming up to tap the side of his helmet with an armored finger. He shut off his external speakers. "Cortana?" He brought his palm hard against the side of his covered head, smacking it roughly as he once did when she would bother him with her antics. The cold feeling increased, flushing through his mind in a tidal wave briefly before suddenly becoming the pleasant warmth of her fully integrating with his neural lace.

"…Chief?" A voice spoke within his helmet, a whisper compared to when they fought together long ago.

"Cortana? Are you okay?" His voice was soft, caring, and wholly unlike what he was most of the time. He was trained to fight, loses were to be expected, but he would not lose his companion, many of his fellow Spartan-IIs had fallen in battle, he would not lose someone else.

"I'm...I'm okay, John. Just may need some time to adjust." She responded after a moment, her voice a little unsure at first before clearly false confidence took over. He'd drop it for now, but they'd need to talk when they got a chance. For now, they all had to catch up on a few things, find out their position, and try to find any friendlies. He needed to know about the state of her rampancy; she seemed normal at the present, but that could easily change like it had on Requiem.

"We can't stay here, not if there are really hostiles on Earth. We were trained to protect Earth and her colonies, just because we took a nap that doesn't mean that we're free from our duties." He said, his external speakers switched back on once more. His head turned to face his Ghost. "What are these hostiles anyway?"

It seemed to pause for a few seconds before finally answering him, appearing to take a moment to think about what it would soon say. "Humanity calls them the Fallen, four-armed beings of the Darkness that seek to control the galaxy for themselves. They are what now occupy Earth, though they are hardly the only enemies to mankind that you need fear. The Hive, the Vex, and the Cabal may not frequent Earth, the latter two seemingly content with Venus and Mercury, in the case of the Vex, and Mars, in the case of the Cabal, but they are still enemies of humanity that have pushed humanity back to the Last City." The small being was interrupted by a raise of William's hand.

"The Last City?" The Spartan asked, his attention pulled from his helmet to the Ghost with a small look of confusion appearing on his face for a brief moment.

"Yes...humanity's last stronghold on Earth under the Traveler. The Guardians wage war against our enemies from the Tower there. Look, there is much to explain but now is not the time to do it. The Fallen had to have seen you four shooting through the sky and will likely send scouting parties to investigate, we need to move." The Ghost before John seemed almost...desperate to move, to leave and get away from where their enemies would be coming.

"Sorry to interrupt, but it may be too late for that. My sensors indicate that a large number of unknowns are coming this way, from all around us." The voice of Cortana suddenly said through the external speakers of the Chief's helmet. The Ghosts seemed to sputter as they looked to one another, worry apparently causing them distress.

To John's left William looked up, a tilt of his head showing interest and confusion for a moment, though the Spartan-II could only wonder as to why. Perhaps the suddenness of Cortana speaking whereas she had been quiet before was enough to confuse him as to the seemingly random addition of yet another individual to their group of eight.

"Chief, I heard sometime before I died that an AI accompanying a Spartan held the future of humanity on its shoulders, that it would aid in the end of the Human-Covenant war for the better. Is that her? Did she really help?" The questions seemed odd coming from Noble Six, atleast to John, but he nodded his answer. That alone appeared to wipe away all confusion and anything else from his face and instead put a determined expression in place that drew curiosity to himself now. The sounds of the approaching Fallen started in the distance, alerting all to the fact that Cortana had been right; the foreign chattering of their speech and the sounds of their footsteps gave them away.

"Well then, let's introduce ourselves to this era. A good old Spartan welcome to those that have decided to step on humanity's toes again." Lilith said from her spot, standing from the hood of the car on which she had taken a place to sit. William secured his helmet, clicking its seals before he nodded in agreement.

"Let's."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note:<strong>_

_**First off, I must say thank you to all the good reviews, favorites, and follows. It makes me happy to see that my first attempt at a posted fic is being received with such a warm welcome.  
><strong>_

_**Secondly, to readers, feel free to check out my profile to vote in the poll involving Cortana's role in this story. She can either remain an AI inside the Chief's helmet or take on an Exo's body.**_

_**Third, a message to 'Guest' reviewers, please leave some kind of signature so that I may respond; this may be a nickname, a name in general, or just a letter or number to be used as a signature such as "Bleh bleh bleh... -6"**_

_**Now, what I hope will become a common occurance, answers to reviews:**_

_**To the first 'Guest' reviewed: thank you, I hope you will stick with the story from here on out.**_

_**dipper. pines.5076: Good to know that you like the story so far, and I will readily await your future reviews in the coming chapters.**_

_**Guest Q(Also, this is what I mean by a signature, makes this a lot easier) : No, they won't. Haha. And in regards to your question, the masked man is an OC of mine who will have a role later on and, if it isn't obvious from his interaction with the Ghosts, he is on the side of Light and the Traveler. Honestly, I came up with him as I was writing and, at first, he was The Stranger before I decided to go with someone new(I even had to go back through and change all the "she"s to "he"s) so even I don't know what he'll do in the future. Just know this, this won't be the last you see of the Mysterious Stranger.**_

_**Eliteshadow: Thank you, hopefully I'll be able to post new chapters frequently but, at the moment, they are going up as I write them until I come up with a schedule for them. The prologue itself was actually put up immediantly after I wrote it, while I had like thirty minutes for my lunch break at work, and I ended up editing it a few times even after I posted it.**_

_**Xenongaf: Thanks for the review and the praise for my prologue, and I do plan on continuing this fic for a long time to come.**_

_**Granet: Actually, the Spartans will be(if you have read the above chapter) the Chief, Noble Six, and two OC Spartans(one a Spartan-III and the other a member of the largely unknown Spartan-II Class 2 program. Jorge may make an appearance later on, as in my profile I have stated that other Spartans, canon and OC, may make an appearance in the story as it progresses.**_

_**Newreader: The Sangheili...may make an appearance. No spoilers for you all.**_

_**Guest(Number 2): All in due time, the story is coming. And no, the Stranger may appear later; this new character, who I am naming 'the Mysterious Stranger' in homage to my favorite game series**_** Fallout**_** until his big reveal, will be a completely different character from the giver of the Stranger's Rifle.**_

_**The True Skull: In regards to me apparantly making this seem grim, that was the purpose of the opening segment where Ikora Rey was speaking; the present is bad, humanity is getting beaten down by its enemies after starting to reclaim its place amongst the stars once more with the aid of the Traveler now the legendary Spartans are returning to once more save the day. The 'plot hole' in regards to the presence of Spartan remains on Earth, which is entirely possible with the introduction of Spartan-IVs, Spartan-II Class 2, and the remaining Spartan-IIIs that could have died on Earth at any point in time from the Battle of Earth and on, I addressed their arrival on Earth by the Mysterious Stranger watching them fall from orbit. How they got there? **'The Traveler was doing something, something that was causing shockwaves amongst the sources of Light inside every Ghost from the Tower in to Mars, something that yet beckoned only the four and brought about the intense need to…move. To abandon their search for a Guardian and head to one specific place, a place deep inside Fallen territory on Earth.' **The purpose of that segment was to signify that the Traveler was causing what the Mysterious Stranger would later be looking at, the four Spartans falling from the sky. A more exact explanation may be put in later, if popular demand warrants it.**_

_**In closing for this Author's Note, I would like to once again thank those that have Favorited, Followed, and Reviewed this story so far; doing so means that atleast some interest is held for this story and drives me to continue writing. To be fair, even if I stop getting reviews and etcetera I'm going to keep writing this until either I end it or run out of things to write, which likely won't happen as everytime I play Destiny I get a refresh for ideas.**_

_**P.S. Coming Soon in the Next Chapter: Action and a whole lot of it, read as the Spartan fireteam encounter their newest enemies, the Fallen.**_

_**P.P.S. Feel free to suggest names for the Ghosts.**_

_**P.P.P.S. Who can guess where I'm going to have the Last City be at, based on Halo story?**_


	3. Chapter 2: Spartans! To Battle!

Chapter Two

Spartans! To Battle!

The marching of hundreds, if not thousands, of feet against the worn ground around them seemed to echo through the air at a deafening level. Hordes of these new aliens, the Fallen, seemed to be converging on the site where they had awoken only minutes before, an unusually high amount of Fallen just to scout out what many would assume to be debris if Cain's ghost was correct. Apparantly the numbers were that of an entire Fallen House.

John kept aim on one of the larger Fallen, a 'Captain' according to his own little construct, from his hidden location. From where he lie, beneath the wreckage of a ruined car, he could see Lilith in her own hiding spot, back against the corner of a building barely held up. Cain and William had disappeared from sight when they'd all agreed to set up an ambush, Cortana having reported the immense amount of enemies coming their way and stating the low likelihood of a direct confrontation working in their favor.

The situation could have been much better for them, only he himself had an old rifle that seemed to barely be in working condition, and very limited ammunition for it at that, while Cain had a standard issue knife from the UNSC and William had two knives, one being a large Kukri and the other a standard issue combat knife that had been given to Lilith. In terms of weaponry, they were lacking horribly. But still, Spartans were expected to accomplish their missions with less.

At least their armor was in good condition, unusually so given that they'd all died before being awoken only moments ago.

A series of loud thumping noises, thunderous steps, drew his attention as a creature, even larger than the Captain, stomped by. With a raise of its hand, and a roaring voice, it ordered the rest around to secure the site.

"A Kell." The near silent voice of the Ghost said, speaking inside his helmet somehow. The little construct had vanished when they had started preparing for the Fallen, apparently it had somehow integrated with his suit. "They're the leaders of the Houses of the Fallen, each one are horrendous monsters capable of ripping a man apart with their bare hands."

"How do we kill it?" John asked, his rifle now pointed at the larger creature.

"A lot of bullet would do it, decapitation, being lit on fire until it succumbs to the flames. They're Fallen that are stronger, more resistant, and with better weapons and armor. But they will still die just the same, assuming you're ready for a tough fight." The construct responded before pausing in revelation. "You...you can't be thinking of killing it, even the most experienced Guardians have trouble killing them, and that's with far better weaponry."

"Cut the head off a snake, the body dies with it. Kill the leadership, the army stumbles." John adjusted his aim once more, his sights on the head of a Captain once more. If the big guy would take some much to kill it, then kill everything else and then focus on it alone.

Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as Lilith moved, grabbing a Vandal and stabbing it through the back of the head swiftly and silently before pulling the body back into the shadows of her hiding spot; the death was quick and painless, much more than these creatures deserved for daring to go after humanity. The alien's rifle was now clasped in her hands, a 'Wire Rifle' according to the talkative Ghost. Every so often a green light would flash on his display from either Cain or William, signifying that they were also killing Fallen quietly; he wondered if they would also take the weapons from their kills.

Thin the herd, less to kill when bullets started flying. Hopefully they could keep taking them out quietly, get rid of a significant portion before they were found out.

Seconds crawled by, lights flashing briefly every so often as his team continued to thin the enemy ranks. Minutes would pass until...luck decided to abandon them and the startled shout of one of the lesser aliens sounded off before being silenced with, what John could only assume, was the retort of one of their weapons that had been confiscated by one of his team.

"I've been compromised, a Dreg turned while I was finishing off a Captain; going loud!" William called out through their helmet comms, the sounds of multiple Fallen weapons being fired began as the Fallen and the Spartan-III began their firefight.

"Keep their attention, B312. We'll use the distraction to thin them out some more from behind." John ordered, starting to now leave his spot of the Kell began to move in the direction of the newly started gunfight. As it roared out a command, he snuck up and ended the life of one of the nearby Dreg, crushing in the back of its head with the stock of the old rifle before policing the small pistol it had held. It wouldn't do much, but it would serve as an okay back-up until he acquired a better weapon.

Turning his head, he glanced up at Lilith who had managed to somehow get on top of the building she had just been using as cover and currently happened to be aiming forwards at the unsuspecting Fallen. A long range weapon, used exclusively by the enemies themselves, wouldn't draw attention if she started picking off the rear most enemies; they would likely mistake her for one of their own snipers until it was too late. Already he could hear the cries of pain and rage from the Fallen engaging the male Spartan-III, and, as none of them were human, it seemed he was doing his job well enough. No reason to push their luck though, all it would take would be one well-placed round to leave them from a four Spartan team down to a three. He grabbed her attention with a blink of a light in her helmet and had her send down her borrowed knife.

He then began a methodical slaughter of the Fallen, killing those that separated from the group or who happened to be farther back and out of sight with a well-placed stab through the back of the head and the careful lowering of the body to prevent the 'thud' of dead weight hitting the ground alerting those nearby. Above and behind Lilith began her shots as well and he knew that the other Spartan-II would be doing the same, easing the burden for the III, in his own way. John just hoped that the III could hold off for a while on his own; he had heard of Noble team back during the War, how it was comprised of Spartan-IIIs and Jorge before the fall of Reach where all but the team's sniper died. He supposed that if the younger man had been able to fight alongside his old friend, then he was at least good enough to last a few more minutes.

Unfortunately he didn't last too much longer, only a few minutes later his voice came through their helmets with a call for reinforcements.

"There's too many of them, they have me surrounded and are pushing in too hard. I've activated my armor lock but as soon as it wears off, I'm in trouble." William said, roars of anger in the background could be heard as the Fallen tried, with fruitless results, to kill the man currently shielded in his armor lock feature.

"Going loud, I'll take some attention off you." Cain replied, and a small increase of fire was audible as he began to engage the enemy.

"Thanks for the assist; you've drawn several your way." William said a brief moment later before re-engaging the enemy.

"D419, go loud. Target Captains and Vandals first, watch out for Dregs and the flying little robots. Don't let them group up on you." John ordered before beginning to fire into the backs of a group of unsuspecting Dregs himself with the older rifle. The rifle torn into them, killing several of the two-armed aliens within an instant and wounding several others before he had to reload. As he reloaded, he moved forward and slammed his fist into the face of a surprised Captain, stunning it farther and only slightly cracking its helmet; a surprise to be sure considering the strength of the punch enhanced by his armor. As it reeled back, he launched his foot forward and pushed it back with a kick to its stomach before then unloading a few bullets into its torso to end its life. The now deceased's still living subordinates looked on for a brief moment, stunned, before suddenly beginning to open fire on the armored behemoth; already he was missing fighting Grunts, as they weren't so quick to fire on the person who had killed their leader, instead usually running in terror.

What happened next could only be described as a whirlwind of death.

The loud explosions of grenades exploding began to echo in the background as his body, his actions enhanced by his armor and guided by the Smart-AI he had grown to appreciate long ago, began to move as a blur. Shots rang out, both from the rifle he had been given at the start and from the shock pistol he had picked up from a Dreg, and each was a hit. Fallen, well, fell around him as he moved. And, when he finally ran out of ammunation for the ancient rifle, he tossed it aside and began utilizing his hand-to-hand training that had been literally beaten into his head in his youth.

Punches, kicks, slices, and stabs to the face, throat, and torso flashed out in a blur as his body moved on what had become instinct by this point, his armored fists and feet were like the mythical hammer his armor was named after, slamming into his enemies with loud cracks. But, unlike the hammer of thunder, the cracks were not of thunder and lightning but instead of armor and bones cracking and breaking from the force. Even the chassis of the many Shanks collapsed with easy against his hits and stabs. Those foolish enough to try to engage him in melee combat, found out all too late how bad of an idea it was to fight a Spartan. And those who shot at him from a distance found themselves hitting allies as he ducked and turned out of the way of oncoming fire or their shots ineffective as his shield absorbed them, before suddenly coming face-to-face with a dark green fist or a slash of metal and then...no more.

This was what the Covenant had feared. Spartans, the Demons of Humanity during the War.

They had been gone for too long, now they were back and on a war path. Their time of being "Missing in Action" was at an end and, though they did not know how they had come about being on Earth, they were pissed.

John reached forward as he closed in on the last of the Fallen near him, grasping the Captain's weapon before driving his knife into the stomach of the creature twice; the first attempt broke its shields while the second went through the joint at the armpit of one of the two lower arms and sunk the blade in deep. A pained grunt came from the large alien before it swung a clenched fist down at the side of his helmet, causing him to crouch from the force of the punch before he then leapt up. Pulling the knife out of the thing's side, he then stabbed at its temple to finish it off.

As the enemy fell at his feet, he glanced around at those who had held back, dozens of Fallen still stood at the ready to attack him. This was not going to be easy.

"Falling back, there's too many." - "Regrouping." William and Cain said in tandem, the cacophony of gunfire seemed to intensify briefly, coming closer to him before the two Spartans managed to break through the circle surrounding him and regroup. Twin popping sounds went off as their shields recharged, a brief cloak of light encompassing both of them before fading from view as the shield fully charged.

Almost immediantly after they regrouped, a loud roar echoed through the area and the Fallen all seemed to take a step back and the group infront of him stepped aside to let the monstrous form of their Kell through. Then, as one, the hordes of enemies lowered their weapons. It seemed as though the Kell wanted the glory of killing them for itself. It was...reminescent of the Elites of the past whenever he fought against them. Instead of keeping out its gun though, it pulled out two incredibly large swords, the two looking like giant versions of the swords used by its underlings with the exception of intricate sigils along the blades.

John readied the recently taken weapon, a shotgun-like thing from what he had seen so far and aimed it at the large creature.

The two at his sides reached down and plucked up two swords from the deceased Vandals and Captains, their weapons empty and both deciding that closer range weapons would be preferable when fighting the large creature.

A shot rang out from a shock rifle, hitting the large creature directly between the eyes. Its helmet, for it didn't appear to use a shield, only acquired a small burn mark for the trouble. The Kell roared in anger, fury in its eyes as it looked at the three before it.

"This...is going to hurt." Cain said after a moment's pause. Then, taking the initiative, he charged forth with William coming up behind him and the Kell moving to meet the two halfway.

John lunged to the right, firing the odd weapon in his hands twice once he had a clear shot at the creature. The shots hit center mass but seemed to barely slow the creature, only causing it to pause mid-stride before continuing. His next shot went for its knee, causing it to stumble slightly as the force caused it to understep where it had meant to go.

The two Spartans lunged forth at the moment of weakness, jumping up and stabbing at its stomach. The four blades pierced through the armor but seemed to get stuck before moving any farther, the energy coursing into the metallic chestplate to shock the alien. In retaliation, the Kell slammed its swords down at them, the two barely escaped unscathed, releasing their holds on the swords and jumping back. The blades sticking out from its torso were not as lucky, the hilts and a decent section of the blades themselves were cut clean off to leave four pieces of metal sticking out from it, the energy supply cut off of each along with the hilts.

John shot at the creature once more, aiming now at the chestplate once more, Lilith also aiming directly at the end of the blade and managing to push it forward with the shot. Blackened blood slowly started to drip from the creature, running along the blades and falling in large globules.

Pulling the trigger once more and receiving a disappointing click in response, John tossed the gun to the side once more. No need for something so cumbersome, it would only hold him back.

"Aim to push those swords in more, we should be able to kill him that way." He commanded and then, shifting his stance into a standard kickboxer's stance, prepared to join the fight alongside the other two.

Lilith kept back a moment longer still, taking another shot and clipping the monstrous being in the leg as it went to stomp down at one of the other two, causing it to falter, before then putting down the rifle and moving forth to stand beside the Chief. The other two fell back to regroup.

"Only one way to beat this guy as I see it, shove those swords through him and see if we hit something important." Cortana said through their helmet comms. "If that doesn't work, we turn him into a pin cushion until we do."

John nodded in agreement, though he hoped the four already in it would be enough. The longer it took, the higher the possibility that the Kell would just tell the army surrounding them to open fire. If they could atleast kill it, maybe that would demoralize the rest and give them a chance to either escape or show them that the risk wasn't worth it. Anything short of a HAVOK nuke would make any fight against the remaining Fallen incredibly difficult.

The one to initiate the next phase of the fight was, obviously, the overzealous Kell who seemed even more eager to kill them than before, if that was possible at this point. With another ear shattering roar it charged ahead, its form appearing to blur as suddenly...it was mere feet infront of them.

'Well, that's new.' John thought as he dove to the left along with Cain, dodging a downward swing of the Fallen's two swords.

"Well, that's new." Cortana began, echoing his thoughts exactly. "I'd have thought the big guy would use that little ace in the hole before now if he had it." She continued as, in a blur of movement, he lunged up with a knee to the creature's side, hitting just below the lower arm on its right side. As it swung at him, Cain and Lilith jumped up and perform near exact kicks at the thing's head, only to receive blows to the stomach by two of the other three arms which sent them flying back.

William dove forward, ducking under the final arm and jumping up with an uppercut, hitting the Kell in the chin before flipping backwards and pushing himself away with a foot pressed against the end of one of the swords; the feat of agility not many would expect from such an armored individual causing the blade to sink in farther.

The amount of blood pouring from the monstrosity increased, a favorable sign that they were, hopefully, doing something right.

John followed William's example and dove forward, only to instead jump up and perform a dropkick at the swords, his feet pushing two more in several inches deeper and making the Kell stumble backwards several feet with compromised balance.

John and William moved to stand before the giant, their stances identical to one another as they waited for another attack. The other two Spartan's were nowhere to be seen.

"Wait for it to attack, then go for any opening." John said, he doubted he needed to though. It was an obvious tactic, any trained fighter would know to do it.

The opening came quickly as, immediantly after covering, the Kell attempted another attack. This time, it lunged forward and swung the two blades from the sides, aiming to cut off any escape and kill them quickly. The two moved to step back, prompting it to reach farther to try and kill them quickly. Suddenly, the two launched forward, kicking off the ground leaving puffs of dust in their wake as they tackled into the creature's legs in an attempt to have it fall. Its legs went out from under it, the sudden force of their fully armored bodies and the tackles pushing its legs back as it had reached its upper body forward.

The two rolled when they felt their attempt had succeed, rolling to the outside on either side to prevent being trapped under the Kell's body. With a loud thud the body of the creature hit the ground, the four blades sinking in completely as the weight of its body pressed down on them.

Everything seemed to pause. The Fallen grew quiet and watched the two men.

"I think we got him." John's Ghost whispered, seemingly afraid that the smallest amount of noise would cause the rest of the Fallen to attack.

A groan echoed out.

"I...shouldn't have said anything." It groaned in his ear as the duo turned around to look at the, hopefully, mortally wounded giant. As it struggled to stand, two flashes of black and white armor blurred into existence from the top of their peripheral sight and came crashing down onto the wounded Kell, Cain's black painted boots stood atop the Kell's recently-crushed head while Lilith's white-painted boots stood on its back.

"Now it's dead." Cortana said through the external speakers of John's helmet, causing a small smirk to appear on the Spartan-II's lips.

A tidal wave of angry roars sounded out around them, snatching the four from their pleased moods and reminding them of the fact that they were surrounded by dozens, if not more, Fallen surrounding them.

"Everyone, get close to me." Cain said, stepping away from the deceased leader of the Fallen house they were surrounded by, moving slowly. "My Ghost has an idea, something about powers."

John turned to look at the Class 2 Spartan, an eyebrow arched. Was the little AI rampant and trying to get them killed? Or was there something they didn't know? Regardless, he listened. If whatever idea the little construct and worked, they might live yet. If not, they were dead anyway. The Fallen horde was only at, roughly, two-thirds strength compared to before. They had killed many of them. But now, none of the four were hidden and they were surrounded with all eyes on them. The element of surprise was lost, the remnants would not die as easily as the first.

As the team moved around Cain, John grabbing the large gun from the Kell's corpse while Cain grabbed one of the large swords and hoisted it into the air. "Stick together, and don't move too far away." Cain said, sounding as though he was relaying what he was being told.

The black-clad Spartan seemed to pause, tilting his head to the side in response to an unheard conversation. Then, with a shook of his head he crouched slight, his arms lowering down and crossing at the forearms.

"I'm detecting a significant increase in unknown energy coming from 216, John." Cortana said through his helmet.

"Here's to hoping this little guy isn't crazy." Cain mumbled audibly, the angry roars of the Fallen around them seemed to grow louder with each passing second and several had already once more pointed their weapon at the group of four. The younger Spartan-II appeared to start radiating a soft blue glow, electricity jumped and crackled across his armor harmlessly.

"Hurry." Lilith pressed, grabbing a Wire Rifle from the ground that had been dropped by a Vandal.

Cain grunted an acknowledgement before, with a sudden raise of his hands, his palms pointing out directly to his left and right, he stomped his foot on the ground. A sudden blue shield, reminescent of the glow around him, suddenly appeared around the group, the edges at a ten foot radius from 216 as he stood there. With the sudden appearance, the hordes opened fire, only for their bullets to impact the shield harmlessly.

The three other Spartans paused in confusion, their eyes going over the newly formed shield and then moving to land on Cain, who now stood normally with the only oddity being the constant glow around him now, his Ghost spoke aloud:

"It would seem my Guardian is a Titan, and this is the Defender ability of the production of a large shield. I had expected as much."

"You didn't know?" John said in irritance, their lives had been gambled on by a small robot who wasn't even sure that its plan would work out.

"May I point out that this shield only keeps us alive for now?" Cain interrupted, stepping forward a few feet to tap on the shield wall, the tap was met with slight resistance before the tip of his armored finger pushed past. It seemed people could go through, but not weapon's fire. "I feel as though I need to constantly concentrate on maintaining the shield's form or else it will disappear, and every second it feels as though my strength is being sapped from me. We probably only have a half an hour, maybe a bit longer, before I am unable to sustain it. And that is if they don't charge in here after us. We need a way out." He finished, stepping back amongst the group.

John's Ghost sputtered in disbelief, appearing from behind John and in the midst of the group. "Only half an hour? Guardians train for years to even make it last a handful of minutes! How can you act so nonchalant about that?!"

William snickered in response before shaking his head and looking out amongst the hordes, rounds from the Fallen weapons impacted the shield fruitlessly. "We should get ready, resupply and arm up. They will get impatient and come after us, it is only a matter of time." He said, reaching down to pluck the second sword from the Kell's grasp. He stabbed the tip of the large blade into the ground beside him before reaching for a shock rifle.

John nodded in agreement before hoisting the large gun he had taken and pointing it forwards and into the horde on the otherside of the shield; at this point it wouldn't matter what rank he hit, so long as what he hit died and gave one less hostile to fight. "Get ready. All it takes it one lucky stab or slice to kill us, let's not give them the chance. Wait for them to begin their charge, drop the shield, and then shoot while their ranged combatants are unable to fire. When you run out of ammo, keep close to their Captains. Don't give their snipers a clear shot."

Their fight came sooner than expected, and ended just a suddenly.

In mere moments the Vandals and Captains of the Fallen mass came charging forth, intent on killing the four Guardians who had dared kill their Kell; they would not be like the House of Wolves who knelt to the Awoken in the Reef. They would kill those who had killed their Kell, or die alongside him in combat.

As they neared, John nodded his head to signal for the shield to fall and the three, save Cain who was ready to cut down any that got close, unloaded into the charging horde. The shotgun in John's hand kicked hard as it fired its shot and many of the Fallen infront of him fell from the deadly weapon, the booming retort of the gun causing the automatic sound dampeners of his helmet to kick in.

He blinked, surprised for a brief moment before continuing to fire again, each shot cutting swaths into the enemy horde. At his back he could hear Lilith and William shooting into the crowd until their weapons ran empty, only for him to spot William to take up the sword he had set aside and begin to cleave into the crowd alongside Cain.

Minutes passed of roaring chaos, his own weapon ended up as useless when they pressed in too close on him and so he cast it aside and entered the melee, before it began to seem...empty. Only then did he realize that the number of charging enemies had reduced, many deciding to hold back after realizing the futility of their charge and seemingly content to wait until their many ranged allies fired and killed the four of them.

As the last of the remaining enemies that had actually charged them fell, their armor now baring the scars of many near-misses, the four moved back-to-back and looked out into the mass.

"I don't suppose you can redo that trick of you, can you?" Lilith asked from John's left, in her hand was a shock pistol that would, in all honestly, do next to nothing at this point.

"No, I've been trying but so far nothing." Cain responded at his back. "We probably shouldn't have lowered the first one and tried to fight inside of it instead."

"So we're screwed?"

"Seems like it."

John frowned, his eyes darting around in his visor to look at the mass. At most, they could all attempt to charge in one direction and hope to break through the enemy line. But, at this point, it looked as though the horde was too massive for that. While they wouldn't have much trouble with any that tried to fight them in hand-to-hand, that much was obvious by this point, the masses could still try to shoot them and he doubted that they'd be able to stand against the sheer amount of weapon's fire. Atleast one, maybe all four of them, would die. And even if they got away, where would they go? They were deep behind enemy lines, they had no supplies to speak of and even Spartans needed to eat at some point, and their only experiences for the future thus far was meeting their 'Ghosts' and fighting the Fallen.

What happened next could only be considered luck:

Ships screamed above them suddenly, dropping off armored figures, covered in the same blue glow as Cain only minutes before, and large balls of a deep purple and firey orange, as well as various grenades, that started to fall from the sky. Loud explosions tore through the ranks of the Fallen, decimating them with extreme prejudice, as they impacted the ground. Blue shields started to appear as well, popping up in the ranks as dozens, if not more, ships dropped off their loads.

The four Spartans sprang into action at the distraction, taking the sudden arrival of, presumed, friendlies as such, and started their killing anew. Cain and William charged forth and began to cut bloody swaths through the hordes, Lilith snatched up a Fallen Wire Rifle and began to pick off Vandals and Captains alike with precise shots, and John entered into the melee, grabbing weapons as he could and firing them into the horde until they clicked empty then discarding them and picking up another.

The conflict only lasted a handful of minutes before the last of the Fallen died by a well-placed shot on the behalf of Lilith leaving those that stood only the four Spartans and the numerous Guardians. The shapes and sizes of the multitudes of men and women made the four glance between themselves. The armor used by the many new arrivals were...odd, to say the least. Cloth robes that moved in the breeze, cloaks that partially concealed what could only be described as light armor, and then also armor that seemed reminescent of a cross between older MJOLNIR armor and the SPI armor once used by Spartan-IIIs.

After a few moments three individuals started their walk towards the four, seemingly intent on speaking to them. One wore the armor that seemed like a crossbreed, silver and red painted, and took to the front, seemingly the leader of the small team. Another, a female, was draped extravagant purple robes, gold trimmed and flaring around the neck to reveal a red interior. The final, seemingly male, was dressed in a brown-ish armor, and a large hooded cloak that cascaded down his back.

When the arrived, they paused before the four expectantly.

"Thanks for the assist." John said, looking down at the three. The three unknowns looked between each other for a moment before reaching up and removing their helmets.

"Hello, new Guardians." The leader of the trio said as he removed his helmet.

Within a moment, the four had their weapons pointed at the male. In response to the threat, the numerous groups of other newcomers aimed their own weapons at the four, yet the three remained still. Careful. Cautious.

'Blue skin, bright eyes. Definitely not human.' John thought, a confiscated rifle from the last Fallen he'd killed aimed at the armor man, thing.

"Guardians, they are not our enemies." The Spartan's Ghosts said as they reappeared around them.

"Aliens are on Earth, this thing isn't human." William snarled. "How is it not an enemy?"

"He is human, or at least was. Things have changed since your time, much has." The female of the three said.

"They are the Vanguards. The leaders of the Guardians, humanity's main fighting force against the Darkness and the aliens it controls." Lilith's Ghost finally spoke up, having been largely silent to the rest of the group since they had woken. "They are not your enemies."

John paused, his finger on the trigger. If that was true, they'd need their help in fighting back the alien hostiles...

"John, we'll need them." Cortana whispered inside his helmet. He sighed inaudibly and lowered the weapon.

"Spartans..." The female Vanguard's head turned towards him slightly and her eyes partially widened at the title, barely noticable but still obvious to a Spartan's eye. "Holster your weapons."

"But, Sir-" William began before being interrupted.

"Do it. We're going to need their help if we are to kick the Fallen off Earth."

William hesitated for a moment before listening, the other two obeyed a moment later.

"I have a feeling...things are going to get a lot more interesting around here." John's Ghost said after a moment.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note: Well, here's the next chapter. I decided to take an extra two days to write instead of just posting a shorter chapter than it would otherwise be. Be warned, updates may start to come out every few days instead of one a day. As I finish them, I post them, and as I take more time to write longer chapters, so will the space between updates also increase in length. But hey, if you want quality and quantity on a per-chapter basis, you have to sacrifice frequent updates. Last chapter was 2.8k words including the Author's Note, this one is about 7.5k.<strong>_

_**One of the Spartan's class has been identified, what will the others be? One OC and two Halo-Canon to go. One can be guessed if you think about it, if you think about his past.**_

_**Also, how'd this chapter turn out? I personally don't know. It feels like I could have done better, but, due to personal reasons, I was feeling off while writing this so it could just be my own feelings that's making me think this came out bad.**_

_**Last little note: The Poll is now closed on what Cortana will be for this story, the decision has been made.**_

_**Now, to the review answer segment:**_

_**Lone Gundam: I'm glad this is catching your interest, and I understand the issue with how short the chapters are; as hypocritical as it is, I rarely read fics with chapters as short as these. x.x I am looking to have each chapter be at least 5k+ words in the future, and eventually become longer. Last chapter was, not taking into consideration the Author's Note, 600 words longer than the length of the first, so that's a plus. Obviously there will be some shorter chapters, which will mainly be filler and introduction such as the Prologue and the first chapter, but I am hoping to have most, possibly all, the chapters grow to at least 10k+ and more. This will likely include Author's Notes though as I doubt I'll be able to write 10k+ and update with regularity.**_

_**Addendum as I wrote the majority of these responses before actually writing the chapter: is this length satisfactory? Haha.**_

_**Overlord of the Afterlife: That is something I'm actually thinking of doing, as you are not the only person to recommend such a role for Cortana as being both Exo and AI, so I may go ahead and do that and take down the poll. I'll be taking into consideration the names you suggested as I was clueless for the Chief and had been thinking of Abel for Cain anyway. Good reference for William's, using the Mako of ME, though I don't recognize any connection between Lilith and the name 'Jade' so you may have to explain it if there is one. I may just go with one I've been thinking, or wait for more recommendations. Thel and Abel will likely be used though. Finally, in regards to OC Spartans, I have it mentioned in my profile that I am accepting OCs, both Spartans and not, and I just ask that I am given a good profile for them. For a good profile, I am looking for appearance, Spartan number, specialty if they have it, and anything else notable. Though, take note, I'm not just looking for Spartan OCs; ODSTs, AIs, Destiny-based characters, and more are acceptable. Be warned though, any new characters may not appear for some time, though some may appear the chapter after I get them if I can work them in.  
><strong>_

_**Newreader: Glad to have helped.**_

_**Guest Q: Touché. I mainly put that fact for those that may have not gotten that right away, and also because the Stranger comments on the fact that she is not of the light, yet she has atleast some knowledge of Ghosts and is seen at the Tower during the cutscene at the end of the game.**_

_**AvengersReviewer: I'm glad to see that you like this story so far, though you don't know much in regards to the Destiny universe. In regards to the Ghost names, I am wanting to stick away from Covenant vehicle names for the fact that having names of the like would, likely, not go well with people who may have died either due to vehicles of a similar name or due to the Covenant in general. Having Emile appear in this fic(not saying he will be here) and having his Ghost named Zealot or Elite may not go well as it would constantly remind him of his death. Also, ding-ding we have a winner. You guessed the city right; not exactly a hard question, to be fair, but good job anyway as no one else seemed to want to guess. While the city will be at the location of New Mombasa, and some of it will be reminiscent of the Halo-universe city, the name will remain as 'the Last City' or just 'the City.'**_

_**Chris Redfield-General Chaos: I will likely be using your idea of Cortana utilizing an Exo body via access port for her chip as you are the second person to suggest going with both her as an AI and an Exo. Yes, the Chief will remain as the leader of the Fireteam because, honestly, who better than him? And, no, I'm largely going to stick with them utilizing the MJOLNIR armor suit, though their may be some upgrades. My reasoning is three-fold for this. One: the MJOLNIR Mark-VII armor is part of what will make the Spartan's unique. Two: Other AIs may be implemented into the story which may either take the role of Cortana for the other Spartans, and it is described in the wiki that an AI combined with a Spartan in MJOLNIR armor is damn-near an ultimate weapon of destruction. Three: I mentioned in the prologue how humanity had a period where they lost much of their technology before the Traveler came, and then they went through another such period in Destiny-canon where they lost much of the technology from the 'Golden Age', which would make the MJOLNIR armor, already incredibly advanced in the Halo-Universe, a lost piece of technology developed to be, essentially, on par with the atom bomb of the '40s for this era. My recommendation, look up the MJOLNIR Mark-VII armor on the Halo wiki and compare it to what is known/ can be seen about the armor in Destiny, many of the capabilities of the Mark-VII are unmatched, and will prove to make the Spartans farther badass. (Closest comparison, a Forerunner armor system to that of a Mjolnir suit. It may be old, but it is far better and more advance; but it is growing and may eventually surpass it. - May be exaggerated a tad.)**_

_**Akson: I'll try not to break your trust in me or 'fuck up.' Haha.**_

_**Guest Q: Interesting suggestions, but I will likely be going with Thel and Abel for the Chief and Cain respectively. Specter may work for Lilith, though I am holding out until next chapter before I am announcing my final decisions for William and her. The Stranger will still be in this story, maybe(I actually have almost zero of this planned out), but the MS will play more of a role...which isn't surprising as she really only tells you about the Black Garden and gives you the Stranger's rifle, annnnd appears as a random *cough*stalker*cough* person twice before actually talking to your character.**_

_**Dragon Cat84: Well, ask and you shall receive. Ha.**_

_**The Joining: Thank you for the praise, and here are your answers~ One: As I have said, I have not really planned this out, I'm going with the flow and planning out individual chapters just before writing them. Do not worry though, the Forerunners will come into play at some point, but maybe not as some may expect. A bit of food for thought: the Forerunners named humans as Reclaimers and left so much for them, why would the portal to Installlation 00 be the only thing on Earth? Maybe there is more for them to find, and it should be clear by now...the Chief is incredibly lucky. Two: The Flood will make an appearance, they have to. It wouldn't be Halo otherwise. Will it be used by the Hive? No. By the Darkness? Maybe. The Flood has never been the most...compliant thing around when it comes to someone trying to mess with it. Three: The Spartans will have some trouble, maybe not all the time but they won't be super badasses against everything. You must realize though, Humanity for Destiny isn't anywhere near as advanced as the UNSC was in the events of Halo, from what I have seen from the game; they were spoon fed technology, powers, and even a longer life span by the Traveler and then, when they started being attacked, they lost their Golden Age for tech whereas, in comparison, the UEG and the UNSC grew, at least in terms of tech, for war and through sheer experience from combat. If a recently awoken Guardian with sub-par weapons and, likely, experience can take down an Archon right away in the game, the Spartans won't have too much of a problem for awhile. I have, though, said that Strikes and Raids will be in this so the Spartans won't always have it easy, and I plan to increase the amount mini-boss- and boss-tiered enemies for this fic. Expect Archons, Colossi, Axis Minotaurs, Hydras, and Ogres in mass numbers. Ending comment - They won't be completely overpowered, but it won't be like Noble Six against the Covenant army on Reach with a rusty spoon as a weapon. ...In regards to the names, I might go with those. They're pretty good, but I am not finalizing my choices for the names until next chapter. And, finally, about the city, Installation 00 will not be used as the Last City, New Mombasa will be it as, taking into consideration that there would be an abundance of Forerunner tech at the Installation, humanity would likely be far more advanced and better off than in the game...and I do want humanity to be at least similar to Destiny-canon. Buuuuut, the Ark may yet make an appearance at some point.**_

_**Guest(who didn't listen to leaving a signature or name. Bad Guest, no treat for you.) : You would be right.**_

_**EliteSlayer103: There MIGHT be friendly fallen at one point. MIGHT. The Spartans will encounter the Queen, and will likely do things to help her and the Awoken at the Reef out, so they will definitely meet the non-hostile Fallen there. And MAYBE they will work alongside them for her.**_

_**AK74FU2: Thanks for the praise, and the follow/ favorite. Hope you stick around.**_


	4. Chapter 3: Spartans?

Chapter Three

"Spartans?"

Cain sighed loudly, an unusual action for a Spartan-II commando.

Silence had filled the entirety of the shuttle, a ship hardly larger than a UNSC Pelican, as the group was ferried to...wherever it was they were being taken. Presumably, this 'Last City' that the group's Ghost population seemed to enjoy bringing up was their destination, though no one had decided to fill in the five passengers on if this was true or not. Personally, John was interested in what this supposed last safe haven would be like, though the title needed to go. If he had anything to do with it, Earth would be taken back and instead of just a single city it would be the entire planet. His eyes moved from one of Spartan to another, and then the final. The three...were unknowns.

Spartan-IIIs were well-known as sacrifical lambs by many of the Spartan-IIs, they were sent to die to accomplish a mission, trained and augmented by the hundreds to complete a single mission. Entire companies of super soldiers would be sacrificed, and yet the missions were deemed successes. He was only sure of B312's abilities, having been a former Noble alongside Jorge.

John's eyes moved to trail over the III, taking in his armored form. A dull grey painted suit, the paint designed not to reflect light, of standard Mjolnir Mark-VII armor, which confused him as he'd heard that all of Noble Team, save for their sniper, had died on Reach, long before the Mark-VII had been created, and the Kukri in his hands that the younger man seemed to almost toy with obsessively. A momento? Something to remember an old team by? Possibly even Noble Team itself.

His eyes shifted to the other Spartan-III commando. D419 was a possible crutch, he knew neither her abilities nor if she would be a valuable member to the team in comparison to another II or another Noble team member.

The Spartan-II Class 2 though, John had more faith in over the other two. His project was meant to be his generation's replacements, to be fair, but they were created to actually be good replacements, not cheap replicas that die by the dozens at a time and yet were praised as superior because a company cost as much to train and equip as it did to create a single II. He'd fought by a number of Class 2s at the battle of Reach, and he hadn't been disappointed despite the dislike he'd had for them at the time. Given some time...he could see the team of four doing well, so long as D419 proved useful.

He'd still miss Blue Team though.

Cain sighed loudly again, an obnoxious sound that ground against John's nerves.

"Hey, do you all think we're the only members of the UNSC around anymore?" The Class 2 suddenly asked after a brief moment of silence. "I mean, if we were revived, then others could have been too."

William turned to look at Cain, his polarized visor offering no obvious emotions before he finally spoke: "If any Spartans had been revived, do you really think that this situation would still be so far gone?"

Cain shook his head, his point apparently having not gotten across. "Maybe not Spartans, but ODSTs and Marines could even be useful. Someone with the training from the War. From what I've gathered, and our Ghosts can even confirm this, the main fighting force against the aliens fighting us happen to Guardians, what the Ghosts called us when we woke up. If all the active Guardians are those who have been revived after dying, many could have been civies before being dragged into the fighting. Untrained soldiers as the main fighting force for humanity, learning as they go? And they actually do well against the Fallen? Even a small platoon of Marines could do wonders here. Any individual probably wouldn't have been able to take back all of Earth, but they could have done something special in comparison to the others around here." He paused, turning to look at John. "If there are some UNSC forces out there, if we can get them organized, we can turn the tide of this war much faster than just the few of us can."

John leaned forward in his seat, propping his elbows on his knees with his hands clasped together. "It is possible, but it is still possible that us five are the only UNSC personnel on Earth, or the entire system. We may be on our own, but, even if we are, we need to push back these Aliens. The Fallen cannot stay on Earth, nor can anything else hold any Earth colony. Throughout my training, and possibly your own, we learned of many times throughout history that the Spartans of old sought to defend or take back what was theirs: Leonidus and the three hundred fought to defend Greece with a collection of others with the same goal, Agis the Third and his Spartans were the core of a group that rebelled against Alexander the Great in Greece to take back their land; now it's our turn to take back Earth and the rest of Sol with these Guardians as OUR allies. If there are more members of the UNSC, yes, it will make it faster. But we will not fail in this." He stopped speaking, his throat sore from overuse. He'd never been one to talk much, but now it seemed as though he wouldn't have a choice in the matter. At this moment, he was the leader of the team, though he didn't know the ranks of the other three, and he'd have to act it. And no commander can be mute, not when everything rides on their shoulders.

"Ah, one thing. Ghosts, would you all mind...appearing?" Cortana, breaking her unusual silence, spoke up from John's external speakers.

The four Ghosts of the Spartans seemed to materialize, seemingly coming out from behind the four masses before coming to a stop in the middle of the group; the constructs appeared to be almost...nervous. "Yes, Warmind Cortana?" Lilith's asked.

"Warmi- Whatever. I've realized something in regards to you four. No names have been given yet, and, from the sounds of it, you'll be with us for some time. Normally someone would give their names out in this situation." She laughed softly.

The four glanced to one another, floating in the air casually.

"We don't have names. We are Ghosts, meant only to bring back and aid the Guardians we find."

"Uh, Guardians. We're coming in on approach, prepare for docking and departure." The pilot of the shuttle said over the intercoms.

"We will continue this conversation later." John said, effectively interrupting Cortana. Now wasn't the time for this, maybe later. Before their next mission. Designations did come in handy, but while in friendly territory they were low on the scale of importance.

In unison the Spartan team stood, a hand coming up to grasp the edge of the overhead compartments. A panel on the floor, about six feet wide and long began to glow around the edges. A jarring impact from the shuttle docking with the Tower shook them slight from their stances, but their grips on the overhead compartments and their extreme weight from their armor kept them, largely, still. The faint sounds of machinery sounded from just outside the shuttle, coming from beneath the panel.

"Please stand clear of the glowing panel; it will soon draw back and another panel will be there instead. Step on that one and be careful not to hit your heads for the remainder of your ride into the Tower." The pilot continued, and as he said the panel seemed to slide beneath the floor, a white panel still present waited for them. The four stepped onto it. "Thank you for riding Air Guardian, feel free to ride anytime." The pilot quipped before, with a click, the panel began to move, the panel beginning to move down and forward. The four Ghosts hovered by their Guardian, close at hand to each yet remaining present in case they were needed.

"Weird little guy, wasn't he?" Lilith said after they had gone a decent distance into the Tower, entering into a large room that seemed lined with entrances similar to the one they'd just come through. A few other groups appeared to be coming in, while others were going into another room with the designation of 'Guardian Hanger Bay.'

"Anyone know where we're going?" William asked, his armored head shifting from left to right as he glanced around.

"This way, Guardians. We have received a message of summons by the Vanguards to meet in the Speaker's room." John's Ghost spoke up, bobbing up and down in the air excitedly.

John quirked an eyebrow in interest before nodding his head once, signaling for the small AI to lead the way. The Speaker seemed to be someone of leadership, they may as well meet the person; maybe they could get some more information on the situation. With a final, he supposed, confirmative bob up and down, the Ghosts as a group began to move forward, towards a large door farther ahead, and the team followed behind, relying on the small constructs to lead the way.

"Chief, we have someone watching us." Cain spoke up through their helmet comms a moment later, after they had already crossed the threshold into a large courtyard-like space. The other two Spartans seemed to tense as they walked, their Ghosts remained oblivious.

"Clarify." John said. People staring at Spartans wasn't exactly uncommon, they were large and imposing, just the way ONI had wanted them. BEing watched though was different, being watched at times meant being spied on. Being spied on meant information gathering, though for an ally or a hostile it was often hard to tell.

"Human male. Maybe 5'6. Head exposed but heavily armored and armed, armor is painted black. Dark hair, grey eyes. Scar on the right side of his face. Green and blue Ghost beside him. On our eleven, Sir. Since we first came into the courtyard, he has been watching us."

John glanced over to where the Class 2 had spotted the spectator, his eyes blocked from view by his visor. Indeed, there was someone watching them who matched the discription given.

"I doubt he is a threat, the Ghost marks him as an ally and we're at the central hub of humanity's armed forces. If he persists, or intends to follow, we can handle it." Cortana spoke up.

"Agreed." John ended the conversation, though everyone now seemed to at least be keeping an eye out for the Guardian, or any others watching them. One wasn't a threat, no individual human was to a Spartan, but many could possibly be a threat if they attacked.

He, on the other hand, was distracted by the large sphere he saw in the distance. Light seemed to radiate from the large construct, almost like an aura that reached out to engulf all around it. But...similarities were easy to pick out from a certain event in his past...

The Didact's sphere.

This...construct seemed like a white, and much larger, version of the prison that had once held the Forerunner who had almost wiped out humanity in his rampage. Large and imposing, it seemed almost ready to open up and unleash whatever it held inside.

He just hoped it wasn't another genocidal Forerunner, or a horde of Prometheans...or the Flood. If this was the Traveler, then much would have to be discussed with his team. With luck, the faith humanity had placed in it wouldn't come back to bite them.

His eyes moved to the city of the sprawling city below. "Cortana, where are we, from the old maps of our time?"

"We're at New Mombasa, apparently there was a significant event that occured here during the battle of Earth at the last days of the War, Johnson turned a Huroguk into an ally, and, less notable, the Covenant began to glass nearby."

"Almost there." William's Ghost pipped up as they moved into a dark corridor, sparsely lit by a few orange lights, and headed down a number of stairs.

Upon once more exiting the darkened path, they encountered another, at least largely, open space bustling with people moving from one place to another. Armored Guardians, dressed similarly to how the Guardians who had swooped in at the fight against the Fallen, seemed to be in the majority, speaking to others and stopping at what John could only assume were shops.

Soon they were led into a large structure that seemed to dominate the smaller courtyard, the appearance of the room they were led into much darker than the rest of the place. It seemed more...He didn't know how to describe it, not exactly. All around were balls of light, from the bright blue he had seen from the Ghosts to a deeper purple that seemed...saddening. Perhaps dead or gravely wounded Ghosts?

In the middle of the room stood the three 'Vanguards' the group had met previously, alongside a white-robed being whose face was covered by a white faceplate and a Ghost of complete white.

"Guardians, welcome." The unknown person spoke up upon noticing the group that had entered. "I have heard of the events that occured upon your awakening, I am sorry to hear that your revival was so...chaotic. Though, through your actions the Fallen House that reigned in that section of Old Canada, the House of Lions, is no more. You four killed their Kell and an immense number of other Fallen, and the numerous other fireteams that came to your aid have since been purging the old Vancouver area of any remnants. Soon, I believe, we will have another foothold on our homeworld and be one step closer to pushing the Fallen offworld. Not many can claim to have done so much after just reviving."

"That is because they are Spartans, Speaker." The female Vanguard spoke up.

"Spartans?" The Speaker asked, unfamiliar with the term.

"Supersoldiers from the Great War that took place before the first Golden Age. They were, and still are, the greatest soldiers that humanity ever had. Unfortunately, most were killed out of our Solar System so Ghosts haven't found any others to date. If they'd been found earlier, we'd have already likely pushed back the Fallen and set up Earth as a safe zone." She continued speaking to the being before turning to face the group. "Hello, Spartans. I am Ikora Rey, Vanguard of the Warlocks. My colleagues, Cayde-6 and Zavala, are the Vanguards of the Hunters and Titans and Krop Tor, Representative of the Council of the Ghosts." She motioned to each of the other three individuals as she spoke their names.

"A question, what is he?" Lilith spoke up, nodding her head to Zavala. John...refrained from shaking his head, to ask something like that so bluntly, to one in a position of power, was far from the smartest thing to do. But she did have a point, and he had been wondering what the man was.

"He is a member of a race named 'the Awoken,' they were once human but, when the Darkness came, they fled to the outer reaches of our known space, called the Reef, where they were changed to what they are now." The Speaker answered for Ikora Rey, who had seemed eager to answer the questions of the four.

The Ghost, Krop Tor, hovered over to the team and bobbed around them. "I am curious as to where you came from, Light seems to come from you in much greater amounts than normal Guardians, as if the Traveler itself touched you." It said, scanning over William, who stood still silently. When it moved over to the John, it paused. "There seem to be two sources of Light coming from you. One from you and another from the back of your neck. Interesting."

"That would be me." Cortana spoke from his helmet speakers, the Ghost and the Vanguards seemed to move back in surprise. They hadn't been expecting her, that was apparant.

"A portable, revived, Warmind?" Ikora Rey inquired, an eyebrow raised in interest. "So much could be learned from it." She took a step toward John, seemingly forgetting that Cortana remained attached to the imposing supersoldier.

"You can't have her." John spoke, his tone a warning. Instantly the woman backed up a step once more, a blush darkening her cheeks slightly as she realized what she had been doing.

"Yes, of course. I had heard stories of Spartans working alongside AI companions, similar to how Ghosts work with Guardians now but to a greater degree. My apologies." The Warlock said, bowing her head slightly in apology before looking back up at them. Her expression turned from one of apology to buisness as she shift topics.

"So, Ghosts, what class are these Guardians? Who will they be reporting to?"

"Mine is a Titan, Vanguard." Cain's Ghost spoke up, taking the initiative. Lilith's began to do the same, only to be interrupted by John.

"Reporting to? No, that won't work. We are members of the UNSC, an organization that I don't see a member of being present. We do not report to any of you."

"What?!" Zavala began, anger apparant as he shouted his disbelief. "You are Guardians, those who have been revived by the Light of the Traveler, of course you listen to us, your senior Guardians!"

"Excuse me, Vanguard, but you are incorrect. Only the Traveler can actually order a Guardian to do something; you Guardians have formed a heirarchy on your own, one that is optional to take part in. While many do, it is not required for them to listen." The Speaker said, stopping the conflict before it began; the three Vanguards seemed irritable at this blatant denial of their supposed power but accepted it in silence.

"I'm curious about something, Ghosts, where did you find these Spartans? According to Ikora Rey, they're next to impossible to find. Are they connected to the event that occured some time ago?" The Ghost, Krop Tor, inquired, taking a lapse in conversation as the chance to speak.

"We were searching for Guardians and the event happened; then we all blacked out, Representative. When we awoke, we were on Earth and we heard a voice talking to us as our audio receptors came online and, when we were able to see, we spotted four forms falling from the sky." John's Ghost spoke up, the other three bobbed up and down.

"Explain. You 'were on Earth' and someone was speaking to you?" Krop Tor asked, tilting slightly to the side in confusion, a strangely human action.

"Only I was on Earth at the time when I blacked out." Lilith's spoke up. "But I was in Old America when it happened, near Texas."

"According to the time, we were only unconscious for a few minutes at the most." William's brought up.

"Only one of you was on Earth, and the one that was was thousands of miles away, and yet you all arrived in old Vancouver within moments of the event?" Cayde-6 asked, the pieces of metal the served as eyebrows on his robotic face arched up in surprise. "That's impossible, nothing can perform a feat of that magnitude."

"Maybe the Traveler is finally waking up and, despite being silent, it may be talking to us. Telling us that now is the time to fight back, actions speak louder than words afterall." The Speaker commented, drawing the attention of the Vanguard trio.

Krop Tor paused in the air, seemingly thinking, and silence dominated the room for a few tense minutes. "Spartans, will you help us beat back the Darkness? We can point you where to go to do the most damage, but we won't order you around." It eventually said, turning to regard the four, five if one counted Cortana.

"We swore to defend Earth and her colonies, as her defenders against those who may harm her both inside and out. We've been gone for awhile, and lack the armaments we need, but if you can supply us, we will kick these aliens out of Sol." John answered, the other three Spartans nodded their heads and Cortana gave a 'yes.'

"A quick question: I noticed a handful of robots on the way here, could I borrow a few of those? I have an idea I'm wanting to try out, something I want to try building that could help out a bit." Cortana asked, keeping her motives rather cryptic to John.

"Of course, Warmind." The Speaker answered. "I know of a few people who build them, I'm sure I could get a few delivered after you all get situated somewhere. We'll be providing a place for you to stay, right, Vanguards?" The three nodded after a brief pause.

"We'll find somewhere in the Tower for them to stay, and we'll tell the gunsmith to let them pick up a few weapons and the shipwright to supply them Sparrows and ships." Cayde-6 affirmed. "Their Ghosts will be able to guide them to where they need to go."

"Actually, I have nothing more to say. I merely wanted to meet our new Guardians in a less...hostile enviroment. I'm thinking of heading back to Vancouver and coordinating the purging of Fallen in the area so we can begin the creation of another City." Zavala said, though John easily picked up his irritation from his mannerisms. Forcibly relaxed muscles that still held some tension, a stiffer-than-normal voice, and the barest of hostility that laced his tone.

"Indeed, I am finished as well. I wanted to speak a little in regards to the Spartans, and would relish the opprotunity to do so later, but right now I believe I have matters to attend to." She seemed less hostile, as if she didn't care anymore. The disappointment of not having them under her as subordinates was slightly visible, but at least she wasn't hostile about it.

"Then this meeting is adjorned?" Krop Tor asked before continuing on. "Good, I will inform the Council on what occured here. If these Spartans were found, maybe others can be too. We'll have to make searches for Guardians more thorough and have groups of Ghosts flying together. Ah, and on the note of Ghosts, you four will need names." The representative turned on the four at the last part.

"If I may, Representative?" Cortana asked. The white Ghost bobbed up and down slightly. "Chief's, you will be Thel." John shifted slightly to the name, he knew why she'd given it. Thel'Vadam, the Arbiter who he'd fought against and eventually worked alongside in order to end the Human-Covenant War. A reminder that those who may not be UNSC can still be allies in the right circumstances. "Cain-216's, you will be Abel. William-B312's, you will be Heimdall. And, Lilith-D419's Ghost, you will be Satrina." The Ghosts paused before bobbing up and down.

"Those names will do." Krop Tor said. "As long as I can report them to the Council alongside the names of the Guardians." The Ghost closed its eyes before turning and departing, the three Vanguards followed after a brief farewell.

Silence reigned for a few moments as the Speaker and the Spartans stood silently.

"Is that orb floating over the city the Traveler?" John said after a minute.

"Yes, it is. The Traveler is the one thing that has kept humanity alive and fighting these last few centuries. No one, not even I, know what exactly it is. If it is a god, a ship, a being itself that formed on some planet...we simply rely on it as we mutually defend each other. Its presence has, largely, kept the forces of darkness at bay and we, with its gifted power, defend it and kill the members of Darkness that try to attack it." The Speaker answered. "And so, I must ask, Spartans...how sure are you that you can beat back the occupying forces on our planets? The Traveler believed in you four...five enough to bring you back, will its efforts have been worth it? A Speaker's role is not to doubt the actions of the Traveler, but I am finding myself wondering how much four combatants and a millenia old AI can do against the forces that have beaten us back so much. To bring you five from wherever it was you were lain to rest may have taken a lot of energy out of the Traveler, and that energy could have otherwise been used for it to do other miracles for the rest of us."

"Speaker, we will defeat these aliens and take back Sol. Spartans have always pulled off miraculous missions for the good of humanity, now will not be any different. You just make sure we're armed with the best you have and point us in the right direction, we will do the rest, Sir." John responded, his tone confident.

"I hope by the Light that your actions back up your words, Spartan." The Speaker said before turning away, effectively dismissing the Spartans.

The group left through the same entranceway they'd come through, stopping outside the door.

"This way, Guardians." Thel said as he started to head off back the way they'd come.

"So, what do you think?" Cain asked as they followed after the Ghost.

"About?" Lilith asked.

"This situation. One of the supposed leaders of the Guardians is pissed at us, and looks like someone crossbred a Spartan-IV with an elf and dunked it in blue ink; another wants to interrogate us to see what we know but also use us; and the last is an AI in a robot body who doesn't apparently care, or at least it better at hiding its motives."

"I think that none of that matters, and that we just need to do our job." William spoke up finally. "We have our mission and now we just need to wait for the intel to do it."

"And what mission is that?" Lilith asked.

"To do what we do best, kill aliens."

They made their way into the larger courtyard once more, Thel having began to head towards the left a bit, towards a stand tucked away in a corner that appeared to house the gunsmith, as evidenced by the numerous weapons.

"Incoming on our left." Cortana announced through their helmet comms.

The group stopped walking and turned to see, once more, the Guardian from earlier, his armor marking him as a Titan, walking towards them with purpose in his step.

"Should I intercept?" Cain asked, his weight moving to his left foot as he got ready to move.

"No, let him come to us. See what he wants." John shook his head, Cain nodded but kept ready to move in case he needed to.

"Spartans?" The man asked, immediately throwing them off. Even the Warlock Vanguard, Ikora Rey, hadn't know what they were at first, not until the name of 'Spartan' had been said.

"Yes?" William asked.

The man reached down to a section of his armor, a pouch generally used to carry spare ammo or supplies. Cain tensed, barely visible to a Spartan so the man likely hadn't noticed anything. What he pulled out surprised them once more and made Cain move from ready to strike to a salute, along with John and the two Spartan-IIIs.

"At ease, I'm not putting myself in command. Former Lieutenant Colonel Edward Terrance of the UNSC Marine Corp. I've been waiting a long time for one of you to show up, it's good to see four of you instead."

* * *

><p><strong><em>Author's Note: <em>**

**_First: I'm starting to work out a schedule for releases, I'm thinking of every Friday. If I can work out multiple chapters quickly, I may release a chapter at, like, Tuesday every so often along with the usual Friday update._**

**_Second: New Poll on the profile, focusing on if anyone wants filler chapters for how characters died. This can be my own characters, an extended version for my MC's death, my version of Noble 6's death, or reader OCs' death(though I will ask for permission first). The main purpose for these chapters will be for when I'm going through writer's block or struggling to write due to rl problems, and I personally find such scenes to be quick to write so I can still give y'all content._**

**_Third: The first reader-created OC, Titan Striker - Edward Terrance, makes an appearance this chapter. Edboy4926, who I respond to below, is the creator of the OC and sent me a few messages revolving around how to submit an OC and thus was able to get his OC put in this chapter. Farther down, in my response to his reviews, is the OC profile skeleton for anybody else who wants to submit their own OC(s). I will, likely, be putting it up on my profile too._**

**_Fourth: I've decided to say this now, within ten chapters a Halo-canon character will be coming to join the Spartans and E.T., Halo lovers know the person and may or may not kill me based on how I portray the character. If you want, PM your guesses or add them in your reviews, I'm not saying if you are right or not though. _**

**_Fifth, I may have rushed a bit with the last half, if not more, of this, as I wanted to post this chapter up today instead of tomorrow when I was planning it. Main reason? Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is coming out Tuesday of next week and I will likely be playing that game like crazy instead of writing and I can use later today/ tomorrow to try and balance out the amount of time that will be taken away from this by writing then._**

**_P.S. Fuck the Vanguards. Honestly, Ikora Rey pisses me off because a lot of the Exotic Weapon Bounties have to do with her and having to talk to her every other step is just so...tedious. And, as the leaders of the Guardians, they literally do nothing for us, atleast to me._**

**_And now, onto the review-answering-section-thing(I honestly need a better name for this, suggestions? I'm partial to "Alpha's Answers" or, maybe, "Author's Interrogation Results," feel free to leave suggestions):_**

**_MEleeSmasher: Would you happen to be meaning 'Exo and Awoken'? I have not seen much as to something hinting at Humans being the equals of Spartans in speed, Exo I may give you though as they were, apparently, warmachines. Some anyway, it depends. You need to remember Exo were/ are war machines that developed sentience, some may have been built for different purposes such as Infiltration, a Tank-role, and more. I can definitely see a Hunter Exo being able to move at speeds attainable by Spartans._**

**_zezia333: Thank ya._**

**_GrimKid98: Will do, or at least I hope I will._**

**_jjcoop95: I'm glad to know that you like the fic so much. In response to the rest of your review though: to quote the infamous River Song from Doctor Who "Spoilers."_**

**_Guest Q: That does happen to be the most widely known/ accepted theory involving her, and it may come into play in the future._**

**_Lone Gundam: Highly unlikely, as the augmentations for both the IIs and IIIs happen while they are children and Guardians are those who died and came back, completely destroying the whole growing up to become a Guardian possibility. Spartan IV augmentations, though, maybe. Cortana may or may not know how to do the augmentation procedures but she was created from Halsey's brain and is a Smart AI so...possibilities._**

**_Mercenary X: Only time will tell, but I hope so._**

**_DragonBlade00: They are working correctly, but two things happened: one, I realized that constantly bringing up shields going down and being brought up may become annoying so it would be better to only bring it up a few times, at least at this part; and two, I forgot about them. :I Yep, that happened. In regards to OCs, I have had some practice. In my profile, I mention(I think) that I have started working on a Fallout fic that is a blend of 3 and New Vegas and the thing that makes fics about that game universe slightly different from that of others is that nearly every character has to be flushed out as a OC save those that are main NPCs that the creators of the game focused on giving backstory and personality. Take for instance Courier 6, someone who, without the Lonesome Road DLC, only has a backstory of being hired to deliver a package to the New Vegas Strip and then you get robbed. From the time your character wakes up, anything you choose to have him/ her do is now that Courier's character. His/ her personality and how he/ she will react to certain situations. The Courier is, essentially, an original character that is canon because there is history in the actual game universe and because it is the main character. And, as a writer for fics of that game series, or even as a gamer who gets deeply involved or even may roleplay as the character at times(such as what some YouTubers happen to do), you must make that character as your own. You must make an OC and go with it._**

**_Kane: My, oh, my, dat wall of text doh. Ha. No worries about it though, I'm actually glad you did this instead of only bringing up part of what you actually said, makes this a whole lot easier and allows me to address what you want clarification on. Okay, time to respond to all of this. Deep breaths. Phew, let's go._**

**_First, thank you for actually commenting on the fact that I did mess up a bit; it reassures me that I wasn't just imagining things. I may, at some point, go back and fix early chapters after I get a bit farther into the story and I get into a decent routine and, hopefully, get the time to either work on another fic while doing this one or fix what needs to for this one. I do need a good beta though._**

**_Second, that has yet to be flushed out by me, to be honest. I really haven't thought of that much yet._**

**_Third, I will, I will. Ha._**

**_Fourth, that is certainly a possibility; something similar may happen. (Last thing for this segment 'As for the," - The what?)_**

**_Fifth, the Spartans, and whoever else may come, will largely be using weapons that are not picked up from fallen enemies(take this as you will, you may have to look for hidden meanings in how this was worded), but it will be done differently than in the game and some Fallen, Hive, Vex, and Cabal weapons will be used at some point. Fallen weapons were already used, this may be all that will be used or it might not._**

**_Sixth, Raid challenges will likely be what they give for the actual players to do and Strikes may largely remain the same as in the games, though some may be to a more massive scale._**

**_Seventh, Halo-tech will come into play at some point and it will give whoever possesses it an edge._**

**_In closing, no worries about sending such a wall of text as doing so does give me ideas and makes me actually think on what I want the future of the fic to hold. Apologies for any answers that may be cryptic or not give you as much info as you want but, again, 'Spoilers.'_**

**_CDS(Because I refuse to type that name): I may do the UNSC ship idea, but Cortana will still remain close to the Chief._**

**_edboy4926(for all three): Thanks for the praise. Jorge may or may not come into this. And the following will be a SUGGESTED profile skeleton for anyone who wishes to submit an OC for use in this fic:_**

**Name of OC:**  
><span><strong>Gender:<strong>  
><span><strong>Race(Spartan II, III, IV, ODST, AI, Any Destiny Race, etc):<strong>  
><span><strong>Background(For Guardians, brief summary of first death may suffice):<br>Personality:  
>Guardian Class:<strong>  
><span><strong>Affiliation(UNSC Forces, Tower, Light, Themselves, etc):<strong>  
><span><strong>Combat Role:<br>Armor:  
>Weapons:<br>Ghost Description:**  
><span><strong>Any Signature Item(Similar to Emile's Kukri):<strong>  
><span><strong>Appearance Description:<strong>  
><strong><span>Additional Information:<span>**

_**jabbarulez: Well, hope you stick around. More to come.**_

_**Unimportant: You'll see~ Nah, kidding. I've been to cryptic today with answering. William-B312(Noble Six) will in fact be a Hunter.**_

_**Unknown One: Yep.**_

_**XRaiderv1: Thanks for the praise.**_

_**EliteSlayer101: Wait and see. The Flood may not show up for a decent amount of time to come.**_

_**Addendum: it is preferred that profiles are messaged to me in a PM, but those without an account may post them in the Reviews. And, no Covenant-race, including Sangheili, OCs...at this time.**_


	5. Death of a Guardian: The Lone Wolf

Death of a Spartan - The Lone Wolf

William-B312

"Someone has to stay behind to cover you, make it count." William said, finality in his voice as he stepped back from the Pelican dropship, his dull grey battleworn armor seemed to sag down on him, the MJOLNIR armor seemingly sensing that it was almost time for its wearer to die.

Reach was calling for him, as it had for the rest of Noble, and his armor was answering.

Keyes stood up straight and saluted the young Spartan, a look of determination on his face and the other soldiers inside mimicked the Captain. William returned the salute grimly. He knew what the salute was for; they saluted to honor him as he was certain to die now, and he, well, he saluted for the same reason as the old gladiators of ancient Rome: 'We who are about to die salute you!' He knew he would die, but he'd still only be listed as MIA.

Spartans never die, after all. Humanity had to believe that.

With a nod of his helmet-clad head, Noble Six turned and jogged off, away from safety and in the direction of the mass driver cannon. It wasn't his destiny to escape, humanity needed the AI fragment he had been charged with delivering. He wouldn't be able to save humanity, it would. Halsey had to be right about that, and he had to believe her.

His promise would be fulfilled to Jorge, he'd make the Spartan-II's death count, he'd die defending humanity's last chance. He only hoped that Captain Keyes could carry the torch that that line was. To 'make it count'. Keyes was the new courier, he was left to finish the delivery of the AI fragment to its final owner.

William quickly dispatched the remaining Covenant forces, a meager squad-sized force of Grunts and Jackals that had hid while the others died, before coming up to the mass driver from the side. The sight that greeted him made him lower his head with a sigh. His fellow Noble leaning against the railing.

Emile had managed to take the two Elites that had jumped him with him as he died, even now his Kukri remained buried in the second's body. Two holes bore through the Spartan-III's chest piece, lacking blood as Plasma Swords cauterized as they cut, and the skull decorated visor stared at him grimly.

Emile hadn't been the warmest Spartan alive, in fact he had been downright hostile a number of times to himself and any other member of the UNSC. The man had even seemed to enjoy this war, relishing in each conflict against the Covenant from their first engagement on Reach and on. The only thing that had seemed to temper had been the death's of their team. Each death had served to cool his head, and also drive him farther.

Through it all though, Emile was still Noble. He was still his teammate.

With a heavy-hearted sigh, he moved forward and pulled the heavy body of his teammate down, moving it to lie on the ground and took away his blade's shoulder sheath, before then pulling off his dog tags. How many did he carry now? Jorge's, Kat's, Carter's, and now Emile's. All but Jun, who had hopefully escaped with Halsey to live another day. He reached up and placed the tags in a breast pocket on his armor, placing it with the rest.

He then reached over and pulled Emile's Kukri from the dead Elite, slicing through the air and to the side once to fling away some of the purple blood.

Emile may be dead, but his favored knife would continue to kill Covenant and protect humanity.

William slid into the seat of the cannon, preparing to defend the Pillar of Autumn as it fled Reach. He wondered how many ships he could kill, how many tens, or hundreds, of thousands of Covenant soldiers would be killed with each fallen ship. Nowhere near enough, or in time, to save Reach, but maybe enough to save Earth in the future.

Every shot he fired hit its target, blowing away Phantoms to cover the Pelican as it returned to the Autumn, and then enemy ships as the frigate left orbit. The loud shots caused his helmet's audio receptors to automatically dampen each sound to protect his hearing yet his ears still rang, and the firing of each round shook him to his core.

As the frigate faded from sight, a large Slipspace rupture sending it off to safety, William fired his last few shots before, finally, the large weapon rang empty and he slipped from the seat.

He paused, glancing down at the Spartan-III at his feet and bowed his head for a moment. He'd avenge Emile by killing every Covenant soldier he could, even if his killer was already dead by his own hands.

He reached down and picked up a discarded BR55HB rifle, the ammo counter showing it as full.

He'd avenge them all by making the Covies pay with blood. A Spartan with a rifle is a bad thing to piss off. After all, three hundred held against the Persian army at Thermopylae, three hundred men with swords and spears against a vast force, for three days. Agis the Third had held off Alexander the Great's men as his own forces fled by himself, mortally wounded and unable to stand until he was finally slain by a thrown javelin. Ancient Spartans without the advantages he held now had pulled wonders in the faces of their enemies, he'd do the same.

It was time to show them all why he was one of two Spartans to be described as 'hyper lethal.'

* * *

><p>Two weeks he'd been on the run, a ghost against the Covenant forces that still occupied Reach. Every time he came across the occupying forces, all fell before him. His Battle Rifle had run empty within the first day, now he was stuck running around with a half-empty Beam Rifle, a mostly charged Plasma Repeater, and an MG6 Magnum he'd gotten from a dead ODST's holster. He'd been worse off the previous day, when he'd had to scavenge a Plasma Pistol from a lone Grunt he'd come across. The thing had lasted for a single firefight before he'd had to police other weapons from the Squad he'd killed.<p>

Food was incredibly scarce, any dead soldiers or abandoned buildings he came across he had to look for food and water. Large stores, which would hold a plethora of food, were deathtraps. Numerous bodies of other humans, left behind civies and soldiers, were everywhere from Covenant forces holding ambushes. Every location had bodies with sniper wounds, too many for him to try and take on the ambushing forces with the munitions he had. He'd be dead in moments if he went in guns blazing.

He settled for finding the snipers away from the stores and killing them, to avenge the death they had caused. Unfortunately Beam Rifles lasted for only a few shots so he only managed to pick off a few of the other ambushers before he had to leave.

Armored columns filled the streets of any city he came across that hadn't been glassed, the many Wraiths, Ghosts, and Revenants left unopposed. Well, unless he managed to grab a rocket launcher or any other decent explosives, then a few less Wraiths roamed the streets before he was gone once more.

William had slipped up earlier that day: he'd taken out a Wraith and run, except this time he'd been followed to his newest hideout - a little place outside the cities that had a decent amount of supplies that he'd wound up at while fleeing the scene of his latest attack; another Spartan had apparently created the stash and died since the last human ships had gone, his corpse lie in one of the buildings in the little area.

He could hear the footsteps of the Covenant horde, the sounds of Wraiths and Ghosts circling the area, just beyond the fog that had set earlier in the day and had been the reason he hadn't spotted the Elite that had tailed him until it was too late. The fog that had helped him destroy the Wraith had ended up helping them as well.

He couldn't help, as he looked around the inside of the middle-most building, but wonder if the multitude of weapons that the other Spartan had managed to gather would help him survive the oncoming horde despite failing the other.

The Spartan-III glanced down at the Plasma Repeater in his hands before placing it to the side and picking up a stored M395 DMR, placing it on his back, and a number of extra magazines that he then secured to his armor; he then picked up a couple of spare mags for his MG6 and a surprise he had in store for the Wraiths. The surprise he clutched by its strap in one hand and the ammo for it wrapped up and hanging from the other. It wouldn't take them all out, but it would do well enough.

In the back of his mind he was dimly surprised by the fact that he hadn't been charged at by now. The Covenant rarely took their time when they thought they had an easy victory. Maybe it was because he was a Spartan, many had been on Reach and undoubtedly they had made the Covies pay for every inch they took with oceans of blood. Their hesitance mattered little.

He'd take the first shot if they weren't going to come at him.

His armor felt lighter than it had in the past two weeks, even though he was weighed down with multiple weapons and the ammunition for each one. Maybe the Hammer that was MJOLNIR was lifting in order to come crashing down on his enemies.

He strode out of the small building, turned right, and climbed up onto the roof of the structure swiftly.

It seemed the Spartan who had died had been smart, at the very least. An M41 Rocket Launcher sat prepped, numerous spare rockets scattered around.

"Hm, that works." He said aloud to himself, gently tossing the spare rockets he had brought with him amongst the rest.

He prepped his own M41, checked to make sure it was loaded, and brought it to bear, putting it on his shoulder and grinning to himself. Off in the distance he could see the dark shapes of Wraiths and Revenants in the fog, likely surrounded by their support squads. He knew he wouldn't have enough rockets to take them all out, his ears picked up the sounds of the vehicles all around the area; he'd maybe be able to take out a few, at most half. He just had to hope that it would be enough to make the rest think twice about sticking around. With luck they'd pull back the tanks with the decision that staying would be too costly.

William sighted on one of the faint shapes in the distance, the size leading him to believe it was a Wraith, before he pulled the trigger. With a dull thud the missile launched from the tube and sped towards the shape before impacting directly in the middle. The Elite driver and mounted gunner would die from the explosion and the controls to operate the tank would become inoperable. Unfortunately he wouldn't see this, as by the time he'd felt the recoil of his shot he had already turned to aim at another shape in the distance and launched another missile center mass at a Revenant.

With swift movements he loaded two more rockets into the Launcher and fired off twice more, turning from his position. Again and again he repeated these actions, reloading and firing off the two rockets, satisfying explosions echoed loudly as his rockets made contact and took out numerous targets. Roars of anger from numerous Elites filled the air as he took out their armored support, it was enough to bring a smile to his lips.

In only a few moments he was down to his last two rockets, which he sent downrange and watched as they impacted two Wraiths close together, the explosions of the two as their power cores went off took out numerous ground troops.

All he could do was hope that that was enough to have the Elites pull back the tanks out of worry that them staying would just continue to dent their armored divisions.

Already he could see squads of Grunts and Jackals coming forward, the odd Elite spread throughout. This would be their probing action, to see how dangerous he was and if there were more than just him holding out. Next they'd charge forward, it was damn-near predictable at this point. Elites never changed their tactics, feed their subordinates to the opposition to test their enemies' strength and then try to bury them with bodies. Sometimes that would be Grunt and Jackal bodies, other times it would be swarms of Elites that wanted the pleasure of killing the enemies themselves.

There had been times he'd wondered how fast Grunts reproduced seeing as how it felt as though the Covenant had a near endless supply of the little things; usually he shook his head after a moment to rid himself of the thought, picturing the little aliens having sex and giving birth was not a pleasant image to have. Other times he'd wonder why the little guys hadn't rebelled against their masters, the Grunts appeared to be little more than a slave race for the Covenant that served as cannon fodder or punching bags for pissed off Elites, more than once he'd witnessed the larger aliens just kill a Grunt out of irritation, and yet they were numerically superior by, well, a lot. Usually he'd see a roughly 1:10 ratio, at least, when it came to Elites to Grunts. While yes, numbers didn't mean much as humanity had shown whenever they one ground conflicts, it would at least help. Then again, they were cowards, so even vastly superior numbers meant nothing if the little aliens didn't have the backbone to fight.

William shook his head to clear his thoughts, setting himself to the current situation. It sounded as though his plan had worked, the sounds of the Wraiths and Revenants had begun to grow distant.

He reached behind his back and grasped the DMR and Beam Rifle, pulled them from the magnetic locks that kept the weapons on his back, and placed the Beam Rifle on the ground while keeping the DMR in his hands. The scoped weapon would give him an advantage, killing from a distance, while the Covenant sniper rifle would serve for stronger enemies and any other snipers he'd have trouble spotting with the Designated Marksman Rifle.

He was far from Jun's level of skill with a sniper, but he had practice and experience with long ranged weaponry and Spartans were meant to be experts with all types of weapons. While some had a certain affinity for different styles of combat, Jun with his sniper and Jorge with heavy weapons, William was a Jack of all Trades kind of fighter. Adept, even using Spartan scoring, with most things, yet he was a specialist of nothing save for being alone.

He was a Lone Wolf Spartan, and excelled at fighting alone behind enemy lines.

'Let's do this.' He thought to himself, tensing his body as he brought his rifle up and lined up a shot on an Elite Major's head.

He inhaled slowly, exhaled, and then pulled the trigger four times in rapid succession. All four rounds hit the Elite in a spread the size of a quarter at his forehead, the first three breaking the shields and the third punching through the Covie's helmet and into his skull. By the time the body started to fall, he had already adjusted his aim to put a triple tap into an Elite Minor before then aiming at two Jackal Skirmishers and placing a round into each of their throats.

By the time the first body hit the ground, four Covenant soldiers were dead and, after a second's pause from fright, the accompanying Grunts turned and began running in separate directions. His hand holding the rifle steady snapped down to his holstered MG6 and he quickly began firing into the mass of Grunts, his training and experience taking over his body as each round flew forward and buried themselves into the methane packs of the cowardly enemies. The new holes in the packs acted as an escape for the pressurized gas and served to launch the small creatures in separate directions at neck-break speeds. Several launched into walls or into the air, only to come crashing back down, and died; others launched into groups of other Covenant soldiers and he used the opportunity to shot the packs once more and cause the packs to detonate, the explosions killing a few of the surrounding Covies and breaking the shields of numerous Elites, who he then shot in their unprotected throats.

His rifle continued to fire, William utilizing the strength augmentations of his own body and his armor to keep the rifle from recoiling too hard as he dealt swift death to Elites and Skirmisher.

'They deserve much worse.' A voice in the back of his mind growled out every time he put a bullet into the brain of an enemy. He agreed, but he also knew that killing them quickly removed a threat much faster than gut shots or making them choke on their own blood, which the voice raged at him to do. These Covenant bastards had killed his family, his friends, and, more recently, his first team since training.

The Covenant had killed many people, combatants and civilians, without care as to the lives they were ending. Without care as to who they hurt. Without a single thought as to if they should stop and try to go for peace. Without a damn shred of worry as to how many loved ones were ripped from each other or how many children were getting their lives torn from them even if they survived like he did. Maybe these few he was killing now hadn't been the ones to spill the blood, but they were just as guilty by association. Every Elite bastard, every Jackal pirate, every Grunt minion, and every Hunter pair. And their Prophets sat back in safety and watched as worlds fell because of their sick zealotry over their Gods.

Something snapped inside of William as his mind raged, his body on autopilot as it shot down every alien that dared march forward, or even flee.

The high pitched whine of his shields as a pink beam flew dangerously close to his head, scrapping his shields and killing them in a mini-second, drew his attention and his body reacted, diving to the side and snatching up the Beam Rifle he had put aside and snapping the pistol into its holster. As he rolled to a crouched stance, his mind following the path of the shot that had nearly killed him and his other hand putting the DMR on the ground in mid-roll, he fired once and the Elite sniper who had attempted to snipe him fell back with a hole through its chest.

He had switched into what was commonly referred to as Spartan Time, his adrenaline pumping through his brain and speeding up his augmented reaction time to superhuman levels. Time seemed to slow, yet his body continued to move at normal speed for him as he lined up a shot with another sniper and killed it. A retaliation shot from the side flew towards him and destroyed the rifle, barely missing his hands.

He cast aside the ruined weapon, snatched up the Marksman rifle and fired a round at the Jackal that had shot at him, the round burying itself in its shoulder as it tried to flee. It wasn't a killshot but it would put the sniper out of commission for a while. He leapt from the roof, his subconscious realizing that staying in the open would present an easy target for snipers, and rolled as he hit the ground.

His feet were moving as soon as he rolled to a crouched position, propelling him forward with a sudden start. His rifle snapped to his shoulder whenever he saw an Elite or Jackal armed with anything besides a shield and sidearm, and there were many, and barked out a retort every time he squeezed the trigger. After the larger targets were neutralized, his hand would fly to his sidearm and he's fire into the heads of back of Grunts, or the feet and hands of shield-wielding Jackals before a bullet was sent into their heads as they recoiled from the sudden pain.

Every so often he'd run into a phalanx of Jackals, overlapping their shield to defend themselves and a squad or two behind them, and he'd toss a grenade into their midst, either lobbing it behind their shields, or pitching it against one and using the force of the hard throw to cause the Jackal pause before the grenade exploded and took out a number of them. From there, he'd take advantage of the hole the grenade had created and decimate the rest of the force with well-placed shots.

His body had become a war machine, moving in a deadly grace in order to duck and weave around shots and return fire with precise accuracy. Occasionally his shields would get close to depleting from the onslaught of weapon's fire being sent at him and he'd have to sprint into cover to wait for the thing to recover, but generally he was okay, dispatching the hordes of Covenant before they could put his shield into danger. He'd been trained for this, though many would say he'd been_ made_ for this. He was a killing machine, similar to what ODSTs would call Spartans, and he was exceptional at it. Only the IIs could keep up with him like this, and mainly only because they had been given better augmentations and a few years more experience. As a III, he was above many of his generation of Spartans, he was 'hyperlethal' according to his dossier. And now, his subconscious mind and training taking over to kill as efficiently as possible, that term was being earned.

His rifle clicked empty and he reached down to grasp another magazine, only to find he was empty.

'Well, that's a problem.' A snarky voice quipped, and he cast aside the weapon and drew his magnum.

It clicked empty too and he was forced to run to a nearby building for cover as his shields neared depletion. A lucky round from a needle rifle managed to catch the bottom left of his visor as he ducked inside the building, cracking it. This wasn't good, at all.

The Elites running around roared in unison, seemingly knowing his dire position.

He glanced around, spotted an MA5 Assault Rifle on the ground and quickly grabbed it; nearby sat a spare mag for the MG6. Slowly, the war machine was being pushed back by his conscious mind, and he was realizing his position. His armor began to feel heavy once more, weighing down on him like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. The oppressive force of everything seemed to crash in on him like a surge of water.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, the sounds of Covenant weapon fire surrounded him as the untrained wasted their ammunition on trying to shoot the building down with small arms fire. He slowed his breathing and leaned against a wall, his heartbeats sounding like drums pounding in his ears. His adrenaline flowed through him, his 'Spartan Time' going away suddenly.

He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out the dogtags of the deceased members of Noble Team, his eyes opened to look them over as he brought them to eye level, grasping the chains so the tags hung down inches from his face.

…Jorge-052…

…Catherine-B320…

…Carter-A259…

…Emile-A239…

He read off the names, one after another, though by now all four had been engrained into his memory. Even the one who was missing was memorized, though he hoped the other Noble has escaped…Jun-A266.

He took another deep breath, exhaled, and replaced the tags in his pocket.

With a grunt he forced himself to stand straight and prepped the assault rifle in his hands, glancing to check the ammo counter, he was down to the magazine inside the weapon and there were no others nearby, from what he could see anyway. He'd have to grab a weapon from an Elite if he got the chance.

William closed his eyes, his heart slamming in his chest with each beat as he prepared himself. Time seemed to slow once more, not as much as it had earlier though, but it would be enough…hopefully.

He opened his eyes and sprinted out the door, his rifle raised as he shot off three bursts into an Elite Major. He turned, firing again and again into the oncoming number of Elites, the Grunts and Jackals seemingly ordered back so that the larger aliens could kill him themselves.

The sounds of activating Plasma Swords came from all around him as they charged, his rounds claimed another two before they closed in.

One went to slice at him from the front, aiming to take William's head off, and he dodged back, spraying the rifle into its chest and killing it as its shields failed from the close range shots. Another came from the side, stabbing at him. He dodged but the Elite punched his visor, farther cracking the already broken material as he unloaded into its stomach.

Taking the moment of reprieve as the others closed in, he quickly removed the now useless helmet and threw it into the face of one of the Elites, stunning the murderous Covenant officer and sending the helmet bouncing to the side. He dodged once more as another sliced and punched it hard, the augmented punch crashing through its shields and causing it to stumble back.

A plasma pistol round seemed to come from nowhere and hit against his shoulder, giving William a moment's pause and…that was all it took.

An Elite tackled him from the front, sending them to the ground. He kicked the alien in the stomach, pushing it back and firing into its face before another came from his left as stabbed down. He rolled to the side, causing the Plasma Sword to sink into the ground, and pulled out Emile's Kukri, lunging up and stabbing the Minor in the throat before he fired again at another, the haunting click of an empty weapon ringing out as it fired its killing shot.

William growled and threw the MA5 at one of the oncoming Covenant before having to roll again to dodge another stab, returning the favor by stabbing the offending alien in the chest.

He kicked the corpse away, sending the dead weight into one of the living, only to have three Elites rush at once. He roared in anger as one pinned his left arm down, his right hand clutching the Kukri stabbed into the creature before it was kicked back down, a second Elite pinned down that arm as the third came from the front, confident.

As it came to stab him, he brought his legs up and kicked it in the chest, sending the Covie skidding back. Taking the moment, he wretched his right arm free and stabbed the Elite Major holding his left arm down in the stomach. Then, pulling it free as the Elite fell, he onto the armor of the Minor on his right, pulled him down, and ended him as well.

As he turned to face the one in front of him once more…pain and heat filled his senses as the Major he had kicked away stabbed into his chest…

"I will not go alone!" William growled weakly, bringing his right arm up and slicing into the throat of the Major as everything…went…black…

* * *

><p>It would be years later before humans returned to Reach, after the planet was terraformed once more after the end of the Human-Covenant war. The Spartan would lie at his final resting place, the Sangheili's following their oldest teachings that a true warrior, such as himself, should not be desecrated. They were not Jiralhanae after all.<p>

He would remain where he died, his body lain on its back and its hands positioned to clutch the assault rifle and knife that had been his final weapons of war, only to be buried alongside the members of Noble who could be found on Reach years later, though Jorge and Carter would never be laid to rest with them. Their dogtags, that William kept in his left breastpocket, would be all that was buried with the other three.

His helmet, cracked and later placed by his feet by the Sangheili upon his death when they moved on after his death, had recorded the final moments of the members of Noble, down to his own death, and served to allow a certain Spartan-III, A Company, to have some closure as he watched his friends die one final time down the road. Some members of Oni, those with the clearance to have watched the footage, would later believe that watching Carter-A259, Emile-A239, and William-B312 die would be the reason Jun-A266 would later fight so hard against the Covenant remnants before finally dying in 2614 after taking down the remaining leadership in a HAVOK detonation.

The Monument of Noble Team would be placed inside the heart of New Alexandria, a statue featuring the forms of all six members of Noble active at the Fall of Reach. Noble Six's helmet would be placed at the feet of all six, still as it was upon his death and secured in position. A message written on a plague would read:

_"When all hope on Planet Reach seemed lost,  
><em>

_Noble Team stood united in defense of humankind._  
><em>In honor of their heroism we come together.<em>  
><em>Remember Noble. Remember Reach.<em>  
><em>The monument to Noble Team burns brighter<em>

_with each who remembers their courage.''_

Centuries later, a brief disruption would shake the Monument of Noble Team, the Monument of Light, placed above the graves of the fallen of Noble, and a bright light would grow from the helmet of Noble-Six before, with a thunderclap, all action ceased.

* * *

><p>Images flashed across his eyes, fast as lightning as his final moments sped across his vision. Voices rang through his ears, two people speaking back and forth only a few feet away; one was a deep male voice, the other slightly higher pitched yet still clearly masculine.<p>

"Guardian. ...Guardian, wake up." A third voice called out.

"Here, let me help." The first, deep voice spoke out. Anything said next was drowned out though, fading as another collection of voices commanded his attention:

_'Make it count!' _The voices of Noble screamed.

William's eyes shot open, his body reacted and shot up to a sitting position, his hand moving to the Kukri sheath on his shoulder and partially drawing it before his eyes registered...three Spartans? He sheathed the blade slowly, now of the other Spartans seemed to have noticed, not that he would have been able to tell with their helmet's visors polarized.

Then he noticed four additional forms, small star-like robots that hovered in the air. One of them, a gunmetal grey one, moved to float a mere two feet in front of his face; when it spoke, its voice was a low, almost sorrowful, sound.

"Good morning, Guardian. You have been asleep for much, much too long. And there is work to be done."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Note:<strong>_

_**First off, sorry for the massive delay. I had a lot to do and things were going on around here, including me having to be a part of the wedding which took several days of writing time from me. And Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel came out, and I have been enjoying that game a bit. The majority of this chapter was, like several of the others, written majorly while I was at work so some of it will likely feel rushed.**_

_**Speaking of this chapter, this is the first of my filler chapter focusing on the pre-revival deaths of the Guardians that will be in this fic, I decided to go with it as the number of votes for them ended up being roughly four times that of those against. I hope it came out well, as I will likely do more of these chapters in the future, though if they don't get a good reception here I may have another fic start that is a series of one shots, or two-three chapter scenes that I'll put these into.**_

_**I am also withdrawing the addendum of the last chapter, I will allow OCs of the Halo aliens; those that make them though will have to wait a long time for them to appear.**_

_**As a last note before the responses, I will be TRYING to get these out every Friday, but for awhile they may be delayed as I work to get a buffer in the event I can't write much for some reason.**_

_**Now then, Alpha's Interrogation Results(or in other words, Review Responses):**_

_**edboy4926: Thanks for the praise, and no problem in regards to the appearance of your character. The meeting of the UNSC forces, as there will be more than just your character now, will happen next chapter.**_

_**Lone Gundam: Aye, there are assholes aplenty no matter what is going on. The reorganization of the UNSC is a possibility, as the forces from it will definitely be a faction separate from the Guardians led by the Vanguards.**_

_**hatred9117: In terms of Edward's team, look out for the next update. Cortana kissing Chief is a possibility, but I am not planning on focusing heavily on romances.**_

_**Chris Redfield- General Chaos: I'll think about the usage of that ship, but anything could happen before then. Approved OC though.**_

_**someoneorsomething: Wait and seeeee. Again, "Spoilers."**_

_**Thespirgin: Things may turn out...interesting in regards to the Flood.**_

_**newreader: Look above in the Author's Note, though you have already made a few of them anyways.**_

_**jabbarulez: Possibly. And the whole thing with that is that the Guardian's heirarchy really isn't touched upon much, and the Vanguards seem more like aids than real leaders. They don't even really give mission, just bounties that can be picked up if Guardians want to get them. The Kell on Venus is a good example of this, read the Grimoire about him. I really can't give those three leadership over the Spartans, even if I am going to make them more a leadership in terms of the Guardians in this. Also, when you are constantly looked to as the leader, you begin to believe you are actually entitled to that position of command even if it is just by popular consensus that you are put there.**_

_**MEleeSmasher: "Spoilers." But seriously, Edward will be the leader of a team of UNSC.**_

_**XRaiderV1: Thanks for the praise.**_

_**Guest Q: Thank ya. The OCs look good.**_

_**Alden Kessler: You'll definitely see more, but soon is relative when it comes to me.**_

_**AK74FU2: We've already discussed most of this in PM sooooo, moving on. Haha.**_

_**Neytiri: Thanks for the praise, and you'll definitely being seeing more to come.**_

_**Grocamol: Maaaaaybe. I honestly don't know what will happen with these characters. I am letting the characters and situations grow/ develop as I write instead of planning the stuff out.**_

_**Spartan-059: I am going to work on having the Ghosts have more of a hand in things, as an infobank-esque group of characters for awhile, but for the previous chapters I was focusing on the introduction of the characters. A sit-rep for current/ past events will be given to the Spartans either next chapter or spread throughout the next few chapters. I am hoping to get into the action again soon, as I have already written a decent chuck of a chapter from the PoV of William for a combat mission where he is being what he does best, acting the Lone Wolf behind enemy lines, though it won't be up for a long time to come due to it being on Venus. In regards to UNSC weapons, I am going with the four not having anything but the one starter rifle at the beginning and then them utilizing the weapons of the Fallen for their first confrontation/ awakening. For the Spartans to all have their weapons at the start would allow for them to effectively wipe out the Fallen with much greater ease than them having to loot weapons off the enemies whenever they are out of ammo or in need as they had to. The coming fighting will have them using weapons from the start, but they will be Guardian weapons. And I don't see them using Halo weapons for some time, but they will.**_

_**ssthehunter: I'll correct them if I can find them. The OCs look good, I'd like a name for the Spartan-III though.**_

_**Drake: I look to prevent the formation of Mary Sues and Gary Stus when I create OCs or characters in general, but at times it is impossible to do that. And, if I may point this out, without the terrible social skills brought about due to being kidnapped and a harsh training regimen, Spartan-IIs were supposed to be perfect soldiers; they were chosen from the tallest, strongest, fastest, smartest, and even luckiest children and turned into damn near demi-gods of war through their augmentations and training. They are, without taking into account their one flaw(poor social skills) Mary Sues and Gary Stus. If you want to attempt to go after a fic for possibly having such characters, and not even really having read enough to, in my opinion, point out such characters as Cain and Lilith haven't exactly been touched on much so far, you need to remember what the characters are and what the fic is revolving around. Hell, the Chief is even described as not being the fastest, strongest, smartest, and etc but he was incredibly, well, great at everything and held the title of the 'luckiest' and became the leader of the Spartan-IIs; he is, by logic, the most perfect Spartan as he is the most well-rounded in terms of abilities and has the 'luck' required to back-up what he lacks and it allows him to survive what others wouldn't be able to. While I will try to not have every OC, even ones submitted, by Mary Sues/ Gary Stus, you need to remember that the Spartan characters will be superior and incredibly close to being them because they were designed to be as such. This is a fact of the Halo universe that was built up by Bungie and continues to be pushed by 343.**_

_**A side note, the Fallout fic I am working on occasionally does feature a Lone Wanderer that does end up being incredibly Gary Stu by the events of Fallout New Vegas and beyond. To be fair though, throughout the Fallout games it is entirely possible to make the characters as such through leveling them up. The only other games that I can think of that allow you to do it more would be, well, only Skyrim. I don't know about the other Elder Scrolls games as I only have Oblivion and Skyrim and I haven't played Oblivion lately.**_

_**newreader: These characters look interesting but do not expect them to come in for awhile, I am wanting to hold back on the Halo alien species until I'm in the mid-teens in terms of chapters. Maybe fifteen-seventeen.**_

_**EliteSlayer103: I still hate Ikora, too much ping-ponging to her for the bounties. Sooooo annoying. lol**_

_**JinzoMask656: Sorry for the wait, haha. Things came up I'd either forgotten about or that made me put down Destiny for awhile.**_

_**Kane: I'll fix that if I can. Also, I'll think of checking those out; and, as a counter suggestion, I'd recommend The Life by casquis which is an amazing, and incredibly long(words: 1,590,801), Halo fic which I have read for a looooooong time and it is, apparently, reaching its conclusion. I highly recommend it.**_

_**My counter P.S. ~ I had actually forgotten about that guy, I might actually use him as it should be fun. And, I think I have seen something about Halo Evolutions: Mona Lisa, but don't remember it much. I may need to refresh my memory.**_

_**bandgsecurtiyaw: Thanks.**_

_**newreader: No worries, I've decided to remove that little section. But, as said above, your alien OCs may not appear for some time.**_

_**guest1632: Feel free to create a Halo alien OC if that is what you are referring to. Good OC though.**_

_**Guest Q: Possibly, you'll have to wait and see.**_

_**LeviathanTamer: Good to hear, mate. I'll be looking forward to the OC submission.**_

_**guest1632: Looks good.**_

_**General Slime: Well, that is what the Class 2 Spartan-IIs were essentially designed to be, replacements for the original IIs. John won't be alone for too much longer, other IIs will make their appearances, including members of Blue Team.**_

_**newreader: You're enjoying making OCs for this, aren't cha? Ha. Continuing: I do like the characters for Fireteam Strange but I have an issue with Harold being on par with Kelly in terms of being agile as Kelly is a II and IIIs are generally accepted to be inferior due to their augmentations being inferior to that of the IIs. Speed, reaction time, and even strength of muscle would put Kelly as superior.**_

_**MidnightFenrir: Thank you, I hope I continue to be as impressive.**_

_**guest1632: Another OC, you're on a role. Haha. Again, looks good. Interesting that you're going with an OC from so long ago but it should be fun to try and make work.**_

_**Guest Q: Looks good.**_

_**mobile grocamol: The thing in regards to the number of OCs is that I plan on having this fic go massive, atleast in the range of 300k words, if not more, by the end of it and the normal story for Destiny will only end up as a fraction of it. Four alien species, all with military forces on the planets of the Sol system? Oh, there is nooooo way Spartans would put up with that. Full on war will happen, if I feel I can write it down correctly; I even have part of a chapter for when the Spartans decide to have a force of Cabal become practice for a decent-sized movement of Guardians, many will likely be OCs, to see how a large unit can work under an organized leadership. The hostile Fallen, Hive, Vex, and Cabal won't know what hit them. In regards to Johnson, I have plans for him, and thoughts for Halsey have begun to form on what to do with her. Any other ideas you may have, feel free to message me them and we can talk about them to see if I could implement them.**_

_**Now that that is over, I do have a few last things to add before I post this:**_

_**I have received multiple OCs both through PMs and on here, and I've been able to agree with most of them, and I must thank you, the Readers, for the amount of success this fic has obtained in the short amount of time since I started it: currently it is within the top five of the Destiny crossovers in terms of Reviews, Favorites, and Follows combined. While yes, there are only 38 Destiny crossovers, it is good to know that it is doing so well. Through the combined numbers of OCs and the Reviews, Favs, and Follows, it is clear that at least some people enjoy this fic, and I'm glad to see that as this is my first posted fic. Hopefully I won't lose too many of you as I continue to post more and more chapters, and that the numbers grow over time.**_

_**And, for those who may be interested, another fic may grace my profile with its first chapter or two in the next few weeks. Prepare to..."Fight the Good Fight!"**_


	6. Chapter 4: Spartans, Meet the Remnants

Chapter Four

"Spartans, Meet the Remnants."

"Excuse me, Sir. What do you mean you have no intention to take command?" Lilith asked; her tone held a hint of the inquisitive as the Spartans left their salutes and moved to an 'at ease' stance. The man, this 'Edward', may not want to utilize his pre-death rank, but he was still a Lieutenant Colonel of the UNSC. His position still warranted respect.

"I have no delusions as to your capabilities as Spartans, I saw a few of your kind during the Fall of Reach, on the events of Requiem, and when the Storm Covenant attacked Earth again after the War. I know you're a much better asset with one of your own being your commanding officer." Edward replied, his head nodding slightly. A distant look appeared for a brief moment when he spoke of the three separate events, memories seemingly passing through his mind, before it faded away. His gaze turned to John, taking a moment to glance over the white numbers on his chest piece.

"And I know you're the one that ended the War and kicked the Didact's Forerunner ass. If anything, I should be saluting you. The fact that you're only a Master Chief Petty Officer is astounding." He chuckled. He shook his head; a humorous smile remained on his lips for a moment before he stepped back and started to turn. "I'd like to ask that you follow me, the rest of the new HIGHCOM wants to speak with you."

* * *

><p>This is just a brief teaser to prove that I am still working on this chapter, I actually have a lot more of it written out but any more would be too much for a teaser.<p>

I apologize for the wait, ended up getting into a wreck and messed up one of my arms relatively badly: dislocated elbow, and injured palm, wrist, and shoulder. That's not to mention the rest of the injuries, so I haven't really been up to writing much for the last few weeks; this incident farther reinforces my need to have a number of fallback chapters incase something stops me from writing new stuff in the future. Will be working on those as I do the next couple of chapters.

Arguably, I could have written one-handed, but...eh, I didn't. 'Nuff said. I'll try to have this chapter finished by this Friday for you all, but it may be a day or two late depending on if I can jumpstart my writing or not.

On a partially-related note, I am thinking of starting a number of other Fics to write alongside this one.

So far, I have thought out:

Far Cry 4 standalone, Fallout and Far Cry 4 Crossover with either the Courier or the Lone Wanderer accompaning Ajay on his adventure to take down Pagan, Halo and Fallout Crossover(one for each universe), Metro 2033/ Last Light and Fallout, Metro and Destiny, Mass Effect, Halo and ME, Fallout and ME, and a number of others. Any of the aforementioned fics you'd like to read?

I'll likely have that other fic as a secondary one that I only work on material for when I have freetime that isn't spent on this one(likely after I have done two chapters for the week(one chapter for the Friday release and one to add for the fallback chapters), so no worries to it interfering with this fic.


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